The Government is considering levying the tobacco industry and smokers to fund a new strategy to reduce heart disease.
The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, put the proposal to the last Cabinet meeting, as a way of funding initiatives contained in a cardiovascular health strategy document due next week.
Mr Cowen got Cabinet agreement for the proposals that heavy emphasis must be put on a preventative strategy and behaviour changes, as well as more resources for primary care. The document points to the Finnish experience, where these and other measures have cut the rate of cardiovascular disease.
Aware that these measures would require additional funding, it is understood that Mr Cowen suggested that as well as Exchequer funding, there should be a contribution from the tobacco industry, or a price increase which would hit the consumer, or a combination of both. As a rule, the Department of Finance does not allow money collected for taxes to be earmarked for specific purposes. However, it is believed that Mr Cowen has agreement in principle that changes can be made to increase revenue which would go towards long-term prevention of cardiovascular disease.
The Exchequer receives £700 million annually from tobacco taxes and duties. Department of Health sources say this figure "pales into insignificance" when compared with the cost of treating people suffering from smoking-related illnesses. Smoking causes 6,500 deaths in the State yearly. The proposed levy on the industry was described as a variation of the "polluter-pays" principle.
Mr Cowen is to set up a task force to implement the proposals in the cardiovascular strategy document, which has been in preparation since January last year.