Sir, – I must take issue with Dr Pat Doorley and his arguments to further increase the price of tobacco products (June 1st). He attributes the falling rate of tobacco consumption to increased taxation whereas the truth is that incessant tax increases have created the smuggling problem. The price tipping point came several budgets ago and further increases in taxation have driven more and more smokers to the black market, thus yielding falls in revenue even as the price increased. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has acknowledged this fact in the Dáil.
Dr Doorley speaks softly about encouragement, but who is he trying to kid? He admits that smokers come from the poorer sections of society and it is here where price increases cause the most pain and hardship. Demanding more of the same is counter-productive and wrong. After 11 years of excessive tobacco control the numbers are finally falling but there will always be a percentage of people who like to smoke, just as there are those who want to quit.
Perhaps it is time for tobacco control campaigners to grow up and accept this fact and stop persecuting those purchasing a legal product from legitimate sources. If Mr Noonan were to reduce tobacco taxation at the next budget he would also reduce the smuggling problem while bringing the price of tobacco closer to the EU average. That is the real decision to be made here. – Yours, etc,
JOHN MALLON,
Forest,
Churchfield, Cork.
Sir, – Ten years ago the workplace smoking ban was introduced in Ireland to great acclaim worldwide. We were hailed as a leader in the area of health promotion. Tasmania seems to have led the way with the recent second-stage reading in their parliament of the Tobacco-free Generation Bill introduced by Independent MP Ivan Dean. This Bill seeks to make it illegal to sell tobacco products to children born in this century and to extend that ban to protect them as they grow older. Mr Dean says that there is precedent for such successful incremental measures as witnessed by the elimination of opium smoking in Formosa and Ceylon. Perhaps Ireland can now look to Tasmania and follow suit – that is if we have sufficient will and determination to finally rid ourselves of this most harmful product. – Yours, etc,
BOBBY CARTY,
Templeogue, Dublin 6W.