Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join Senator Crown and others in congratulating the Minister on bringing this legislation through. In theSunday Independentlast Sunday a gentleman representing the industry claimed there are 1,900 people employed in the tobacco industry on the island of Ireland. As the Minister said, it kills 5,200 people every year and I would hate to be in an industry which had that kind of record.
We know from the Irish Heart Foundation that 71% of Irish people support the introduction of standardised packaging as set out in this legislation. Research commissioned by the Department of Health from Dr. David Hammond of the University of Waterloo in Canada showed that plain packaging will reduce smoking initiation among youth and young adults, promote smoking cessation among established smokers, help former smokers remain abstinent and de-normalise tobacco use.
Senator Crown has mentioned the PR companies. I appeal to other parts of the private sector, which, in general, I support. The members of those associations destroyed the economy of this country in 2008 by reckless banking. Law firms with deep pockets in Dublin should not rally round to attack this Minister because he is trying to improve the health of the nation by running cases in the courts on intellectual property grounds, using money which we in this House do not have to spend on court cases but which tobacco companies do have. According to Wikipedia:

Intellectual property (IP) rights are the legally recognized exclusive rights to creations of the mind. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs.

How can one use intellectual property rights to defend the tobacco industry and its distinctive packages? We are allowing them to continue to market products of which many of us disapprove but with a plain label. They can still trade internationally. They accuse this Minister of disrupting trade and so on. We are not doing that; they are simply conducting it under conditions of plain wrapping.
I hope members of the Law Library and the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland will not rush to oppose this legislation. The private enterprise sector, through banking and accounting firms, did itself immense damage in the relatively recent past. I am disappointed that the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland appears to oppose the Minister. I would be very disappointed if a sector which badly needs to re-establish confidence after the damage it has done to the country now condemns, and hires PR companies to oppose, this legislation and the Minister, who is slightly curtailing a toxic industry, much less than Senator Crown and I would wish. Parliament is entitled to take measures to promote public health. I am delighted this Minister has done so. His opponents should seriously consider their position before they rush to serve legal writs on him. I congratulate him. May this legislation fare well because it is doing exactly what is required.