I gave up smoking exactly 1,026 days ago. I kicked the habit on St Stephen's Day 1999 after a Christmas of binge smoking which left me wheezing and sick, writes Miriam Donohoe.
My decision to quit was also prompted by two concerned children who kept nagging their mother to stop. And thank God I did.
I am confident that I will never smoke again. I am now an ex-addict, and when I see others with a fag between their lips I feel so grateful that I succeeded in my battle with the dreaded weed.
There is nothing as irritating as a reformed smoker, and I haven't joined the obsessively "anti-smoking" brigade. I still like the smell of cigarettes and refuse to give the back-garden treatment to smoking visitors. Nor do I stay away from pubs because of the smoky atmosphere.
Maybe I should take a stronger anti-smoking stance, as the statistics make frightening reading. Some 1.1 billion people in the world use tobacco products, and 11,000 people die every day from tobacco-related illness. In Ireland, 7,000 people a year die from smoking diseases.
One of the most depressing statistics is that smoking is increasingly popular with young Irish people. Fifteen thousand children become addicted in Ireland each year, and fewer than one-third will ever succeed in quitting. Of the remainder, half will die from diseases caused by smoking.
A recent MRBI survey shows that more than 12 per cent of boys aged between 12 and 15 smoke. Six per cent of girls in that age group are hooked on cigarettes. Thirty-two per cent of boys 16 to 17 years old and 34 per cent of girls in the same age group smoke.
When Micheal Martin was appointed Minister for Health in 1999, he declared war on smoking as his top priority. I have no doubt he was genuine in his commitment, but three years on he must be disappointed that no real inroads have been made on the level of smoking in this country.
In 1999, around the time he came into office, a Slán survey showed that 32 per cent of Irish men and 31 per cent of Irish women smoked. The recent MRBI survey shows that today 31 per cent of Irish men and 29 per cent of women smoke. So there has not been a major drop in the figures. And the number of young people who smoke is rising.
It's not as if the Minister has been sitting on his hands. He brought in the Public Health (Tobacco) Act, hailed as the most important anti-smoking weapon ever deployed in the country. It provided for the setting up of the Office for Tobacco Control.
The legislation also provides for further restrictions on advertising and sponsorship by cigarette companies, registration of shops that sell cigarettes, a ban on the sale of packs of 10 cigarettes and tighter control on cigarette-vending machines. However, this part of the Act has not yet brought into force.
The Government recently signalled that it would significantly raise the price of a packet of cigarettes in the Budget as part of its anti-smoking campaign. The speculation is that cigarettes may go up by as much as one or two euro a packet of 20.
Surely one of the biggest beneficiaries of this will be Charlie McCreevy, desperately looking for new revenues. With tax on cigarettes at 80 per cent, any increase will yield millions of euro for the Government coffers. And with cigarettes still on the Consumer Price Index, a hefty increase will send inflation rocketing.
Worldwide surveys show that price increases are the most effective way of reducing tobacco consumption, especially among lower-income groups and children. However, the figures in Ireland show that despite hefty increases in the last three years, there has been no significant reduction in the number smoking.
A senior youth worker in one of Dublin's most deprived areas told me that in her experience people living on the breadline are highly stressed, and smoking is one of their few consolations. Instead of stopping smoking, many will skimp and cut down on their food, household, heating and clothing bills to compensate for the cigarette price increase.
So it will be young children in many cases who feel the impact of the price rises.
A garda friend also suggested a sizeable price increase might lead to more robberies of garage and corner shops. If cigarettes end up being €7 or €8 a packet, they will be a much more valuable item. Increases would also lead to an increase in the importation and sale of contraband cigarettes.
Price increases on their own are not enough. Stronger laws and more comprehensive tobacco control strategies are also required.
What has the new Office of Tobacco Control been doing for the last 18 months anyway? The Minister would be doing the country a great service if he ignored the all-powerful vintners lobby and banned smoking in public houses. And the designation of smoking areas in restaurants is a complete joke. In most cases what divides a smoking and a non-smoking area is a table and chair.
In New Zealand smoking has been halved in the last 15 years. Its success is based on a catchy nationwide "quit" campaign, and the introduction of serious restrictions on smoking in public places. Despite lots of political lip service, we still have a long way to go here. Slapping a hefty increase on the "old reliable" in the Budget is not the answer.