Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 July 2014
654. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Health on the back of research that shows plain tobacco packaging has led to smokers in other jurisdictions choosing cheaper brands, if any research has been undertaken to discover if there are health implications for such substitution among the smoking population; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31097/14]
View answerAlthough I am aware that the tobacco industry has argued that standardised packaging will lead to smokers choosing cheaper brands, I have not seen any research that conclusively demonstrates that cheaper cigarettes have a greater impact on a person’s health, or that cheaper tobacco causes more disease than so-called “premium brands”.
On the contrary, I would like to point out to the Deputy that tobacco consumption, regardless of the price of the product chosen, is today the greatest single cause of preventable illness and premature death in Ireland, killing over 5,200 people a year; that smokers die on average 10 years sooner than non-smokers; that one in every two children who experiment with cigarettes goes on to become a smoker, and that one in every two of them will die from a tobacco related disease. In this context, my priority is to reduce the consumption of tobacco across the board, to meet our policy target of making Ireland tobacco free (i.e. with a smoking prevalence rate of less than 5%) by 2025.
