Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The new government in New Zealand pulled back from it. It withdrew the proposal. A former Prime Minister in the UK said the Government there was going to do the same but we have not had any indication from the Labour Party Government as to whether it will do it. I have been in discussions on the issue with my counterpart in Northern Ireland. It is easier in terms of enforcement when things are done on an all-island basis.

I presented my proposal on this issue at an EU level and EU ministers are interested. The Dutch, the Finns and the Slovenians are looking at it. I believe this will become the norm just like the workplace smoking ban became the norm, based on the responses we are now getting to that.If the illicit trade in tobacco becomes the norm across the EU, it will help because the opportunities for arbitrage will decrease to some extent.

We got very clear advice from the Attorney General. The questions we asked were "How?" and "What is the best way to do it?". The answer we got on the best way to do it was to have a three-year lead-in period. In part, this is because there are people who are 18 years of age who are addicted to smoking. They are legally allowed to buy cigarettes. We are aware that if people are buying cigarettes and smoking regularly at 18 years of age, they will be in addiction very quickly. We did not want to bring in the type of situation raised close to the end of the debate whereby someone who has gone into addiction legally, as they are legally allowed to buy and consume cigarettes now, would not be legally allowed to smoke under this legislation. This is part of the reason for the three years. It will give rise to a challenge because close to the end of the three-year period, we will move from 18 years of age to 21 years of age in one go. There will be people in addiction who purchase cigarettes legally. One of the things we must do is communicate very clearly now that this is coming. There is no perfect way to do it, and I fully accept that. One of the things we will have to do is redouble our efforts on smoking cessation and supports. Our efforts are working quite well. Nicotine replacement patches are free through the HSE programme. The response has been very positive. The number of people engaging with the programme has increased.

With regard to the defence on identification, the advice I have is that it is what is used at present with regard to the age of 18. It is clearly understood that the defence is not that somebody came into a shop and showed a driver's licence which said they were 18, it is that they showed a driver's licence that said they were 21. This is what is in legislation at present.