Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The theory is fine. I do not disagree with the factual position as outlined by the Minister, but the reality is that various papers are laid before the House, which means placing them in the Library and very few get to the floor of the House. That will not happen unless someone is motivated. My concern is that things happen under the radar and if someone does not share the Minister's disposition on the issue, I would be concerned that regulations could be made under the legislation which might not be conducive to the objective of the Bill.

I wish to raise one other matter in that regard.

I received, as I am sure did the other Members present, representations from the tobacco industry. I had not received them when I raised the issue of trying to counterfeit-proof the packages on the last day we discussed the Bill. They expressed concern and referred to what has happened in Australia and the number engaged in such activity increasing. My only concern, which is probably shared by everybody who has spoken here, is that we reduce the number of people who smoke. That must be the objective and target. Obviously, part of that is to try to kill off the illicit trade, which operates through the sale of cheaper packages of cigarettes and, as a consequence, people buy them and the younger age group in particular are more inclined to get in on the habit. On the last day we debated the Bill, I thought the Minister was a bit dismissive of this suggestion or at least he said that the packages, as they will be done now, were sufficient and could not be counterfeited. The industry claims there was a 20% increase in such activity in Australia. I do not know if that is the case but I am sure the Department officials, and probably the Minister, will know exactly if there was any increase whatsoever. Even if there was not, it behoves us to ensure that the packaging is as counterfeit-proof as we can possibly achieve. What specific measures are being included in the legislation to ensure that happens? It is a problem.

We met people from the retail oil industry in Belfast only last week who spoke about what goes on in the Border area and peripheral to that is cigarette smuggling. There were other issues also. We should be conscious of that issue, which also feeds in to the wealth generation of the criminal breed and we can all see the consequences of that. There are good reasons for doing this, but I do not have any gems of wisdom as to how it might be done. I believe it should be done and the Minister will probably have good ideas and experts to guide him as to what can done in that regard, but it is important that we make it more difficult for people to counterfeit the packages.