Madam, - I will be forever indebted to Micheál Martin that I can enjoy a meal in any restaurant in Ireland without being forced to suffer the nauseating effects of inhaling someone else's tobacco smoke. His brave decision in introducing a ban on smoking in public places not only won international acclaim for his Government and this country but greatly influenced many people to give up smoking, thereby greatly reducing their risk of developing heart disease, throat or lung cancer.
What a great pity such bravery was matched only by the cowardice of his colleague, Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, who has not put one cent in extra tax on a packet of cigarettes since the introduction of Minister Martin's ban..
Nearly 40,000 Irish people would quit smoking if the price of 20 cigarettes increased to €6.98, according to research by the EU anti-smoking campaign, "Help - for a life without tobacco", which shows that a 10 per cent price increase in high-income countries results in a 4 per cent reduction in smoker numbers.
This makes tax and price increases the single biggest factor in encouraging people to quit, especially younger and poorer smokers.
At a time when Seamus Brennan, Minister for Social and Family Affairs, is concerned at how few of us have made provision for retirement, the Finance Minister and the mandarins in his Department are ensuring that many citizens of this State (particularly young women) will never reach pension age. Mr Cowen and his officials who continue to reject calls for higher taxes and duties on tobacco on the basis that it would increase inflation as measured by the CPI (Consumer Price Index).
The EU has already recommended that its member-countries exclude tobacco products from their respective CPIs in order to ensure that they do not have an inflationary effect. Luxembourg, France and Belgium have a CPI which does not include tobacco products. Even the UK has higher taxes on tobacco products than we do: a packet of 20 cigarettes is now, on average, €1 cheaper in the Republic than in the North. - Yours, etc,
EUGENE MOORE, Manor Villas, Mount Argus Road, Dublin 6W.
Madam, - Once again, in pre-Budget lobbying, the Irish Cancer Society is pressing Brian Cowen to make life difficult for smokers by increasing the price to €8 a pack.
The true cost of 20 cigarettes, including growing the tobacco, manufacturing the product, distributing it to shops and covering all the mark-ups along the way, is about 40 cent. Smokers are already paying well over the market price in Ireland for their chosen brands; in Spain a pack can cost as little as 50 cent.
Given the huge tax take the Government already enjoys from this legal product and, in light of the recent European ruling allowing smokers to import their own cigarettes in bulk, it would seem a very foolish move indeed to make the price prohibitive. Instead, the Government should consider reducing the tax on cigarettes and thereby appeal to a million of us voters.
While the Irish Cancer Society and other groups have every right to urge us to quit smoking, they have no right to force us to do so. When they attempt to do this, they make smokers even more defiant and angry. It's a tough decision to quit and has to come from the person themselves, not through intimidation, threats or prohibitive price rises. - Yours, etc,
JOHN MALLON, Shamrock Grove, Mayfield, Cork.