Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As we know, plain packaging was introduced in Australia in December 2012, and the latest Australian Government statistics show that the proportion of Australians smoking is at its lowest since records began. Smoking rates are falling there at their fastest in 20 years. The daily smoking rate has declined from 15.1% in 2010 to 12.8% in 2013. The statistics, which I will not go into in detail, show that younger people are delaying the taking up of smoking. Everybody knows that the younger one starts, the more likely one is to be addicted in the longer term. Further research from Australia shows that when smoking cigarettes from a plain packet, smokers are 81% more likely to think about quitting at least once a day, and they rate quitting as a higher priority in their lives. Dozens of peer-reviewed studies have shown that plain packaging will ultimately reduce the attractiveness of cigarettes and reduce the ability of packaging to mislead consumers into believing some products are less harmful. It will increase the noticeability, recollection and impact of health warnings and messages. I find the legal threats of the tobacco industry to be disappointing, to say the least. I call for a debate in the near future on plain packaging and its introduction in the context of these legal threats.