Cigarettes and other tobacco products should be removed from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) so that the Government could increase prices without affecting inflation, according to Ash Ireland.
Prof Luke Clancy, chairman of the anti-smoking organisation, said such a move would guarantee an increased tax take and lower tobacco consumption.
He was speaking as Ash Ireland (Action on Smoking and Health) held its first national seminar on taxation, health and tobacco.
Prof Gerard Dubois, a professor of public health policy in France, where tobacco was removed from the index in 1991, said its removal was a "powerful symbol".
Prof Dubois, of the University of Amiens, said the move halved cigarette consumption in France.
Prof Clancy said the World Bank had found that in 109 countries, a 10 per cent price increase in tobacco products resulted in a 4 per cent drop in consumption. By removing cigarettes from the index, "you can use price or taxation as a public health policy instrument".
Minister of State Tom Kitt told the seminar that "while higher taxation will reduce legal sales in Ireland, the increased incentive for cross-Border shopping and the smuggling of cigarettes could result in a situation where there is, in fact, no net overall gain".
A Department of Finance spokesman said it was not just a question for the Minister but for the social partners.
He said tobacco and the CPI would be in the discussions when talks got under way this year on the "successor pay agreement".
