Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I read the reports. I also read the Roland Bergen report, which is often cited. Surprise, surprise - it was commissioned and funded by the tobacco industry. I studied it very carefully because it said we would have job losses if we introduced the legislation, and we are all concerned about job losses. The figures are based on estimates rather than evidence. The Australian data comes from the trade and not from official figures. The report drew from other reports, the ones I have already mentioned that were funded by the tobacco industry. Therefore, I urge my colleagues, when evidence is put before them, to ask who funded it and what research it is drawn from.

Senator Colm Burke mentioned the warnings on health hazards from the US Surgeon General 50 years ago. The report of the US Surgeon General released in January 2014 shows that cigarette smoking is even more hazardous than previously thought. The report documents that, by a wide margin, smoking causes even more diseases, kills even more people and costs the nation even more in medical bills and other economic losses than has previously been reported. As we heard during the hearings, tobacco is the only product that kills when used as intended.

My colleagues have talked about the number of people who die of smoking-related diseases each year. We heard very compelling testimony from Dr. Finbarr O'Connell, who stated that 95% of lung cancer cases in Ireland are directly related to tobacco. Everybody can think of somebody they know who has had lung cancer. Consequently, that startling figure brought home to me the realisation that it is within our grasp to improve people's health. My colleague, Senator Crown, will be able to give more information on the health aspects.

As the Minister said, in Ireland tobacco companies need 50 people a day to take up smoking in order to replace those quitting or dying. Given that research shows that 78% of people start before the age of 18, the target is 39 children every day. At the committee hearings the tobacco industry representatives told us it does not aim products at children. I clearly told them that either they are getting the marketing wrong or they are targeting children, because that is way past any margin of error. If anybody heard of a polling company that had a 78% margin of error, we would question its figures. Irish people begin smoking at an earlier age than in other European countries. Let us be clear that the tobacco industry’s biggest growth market is children. At the hearings we heard very clear support from children and children's rights organisations for the legislation.

The warnings about smuggling are scaremongering. At the hearings we heard from representatives of the Garda, who cited the European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF, the Revenue Commissioners and Customs and Excise. They stated that there is no evidence to indicate that the introduction of plain packaging will lead to an increase in the illicit trade of tobacco products. The only independent research on smuggling rates in Ireland has been carried out by the Revenue Commissioners and the HSE's national tobacco control office. It shows a smuggling rate of 13% in Ireland, which would alarm one until one examined it. One percent of this involves "illicit whites", cigarettes that are produced illegally but are not counterfeit.

Some 1% is counterfeit and 11% of the product is from legal industry. Of that 13%, 11% comes from the industry. It is clear from evidence given in 2002 before the United Kingdom Committee of Public Accounts by ASH UK that exports of tobacco to Andorra, for example, increased from 13 million in 1993 to 1,520 million in 1997. To put it simply, the amount of cigarettes being supplied to Andorra in 1997 meant that every man, woman and child would need to smoke 130 cigarettes a day, every day. They oversupply certain countries in order to supply other countries. That is absolutely clear.

Last October, the Rt. Hon. Margaret Hodge appeared before the UK Committee of Public Accounts and stated that the supply of some brands of hand-rolling tobacco to some countries in 2011 exceeded legitimate demand by 240%. The evidence is there for us to see. In November 2013, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, said in the Dáil, "I have a suspicion that the legitimate trade is involved in the production of illicit cigarettes". We need to be careful in this debate that we throw around the word "illicit". I believe the tobacco companies are fuelling this market. It must be remembered that of 13%, 11% is from legal product. The words "smuggling" or "counterfeit" are to make us all feel worried and they are to disarm us, but we need to make sure that we say clearly that these figures cannot be substantiated. It is in the interest of the period in which we are debating the Bill that the tobacco industry will be able to point to smuggling and job losses. We will have all that scaremongering. They themselves are fuelling this market.

The only criticism I have of the Bill is that it is not taking effect soon enough and, in particular, the transitionary measures. Australia used two months as a wash-through period for retailers to exchange the cigarette products. From the time the Bill is enacted, the Minister is allowing 12 months for it to go through the system. I will table an amendment on Committee Stage to reduce that period to three months. Three months is ample time, given the lead-in time that will be available. The Minister has my unequivocal support. Clearly, this is a children's rights issue. In supporting this Bill we are protecting our children and young people from taking up smoking. We do not need any more reports to tell us how much smoking kills. The evidence is there. I thank the Minister for bringing the Bill before the House.