Sir, - ASH Ireland is very disappointed at the failure of the Government to significantly increase the price of tobacco products in the Budget. There is more than ample evidence that real price increases will dissuade young people from experimenting with tobacco, will help current smokers move towards quitting and encourage ex-smokers to remain smoke-free.
ASH Ireland is not alone in making the case for real price increases on tobacco products. Those in the front line dealing with the devastating outcomes of smoking, The Irish Cancer Society and the Irish Heart Foundation to name but two, very much support our position. The Office of Tobacco Control called for a doubling of the price of tobacco products.
On two occasions in the past the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children has called for price rises to be used in an attempt to halt the tobacco epidemic that kills at least 7,000 Irish people annually. The recently published Government health strategy identifies smoking as causing 30 per cent of all cancers and more than 20 per cent of all deaths.
Even when it was "leaked" that a pack of 20 cigarettes might increase in price by £1, there was no public outcry. Yet, despite all of the above, the Minister for Finance increased the price of 20 cigarettes by 10p, less than the rate of inflation and a wholly useless public health exercise. It appears that the new health strategy has fallen at the first (or is it the second?) hurdle. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Fenton Howell, Chairman, ASH Ireland, Dublin 4.