THE PRICE OF a packet of 20 cigarettes rose by €1 from midnight on Tuesday night, pushing a box to over €20. 

“Smoking continues to kill so many Irish people every year. It is important that we continue to discourage and dissuade people, particularly younger people, from smoking,” Harris said as he announced the price increases.

However, a number of TDs have questioned the rationale behind the price hike, with some calling out the government for failing to hit its tobacco-free Ireland targets in recent years. 

The government believes increasing the cost by €1 will prevent people from smoking, but some TDs disagree. 

Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae said he is against the increase, stating that many elderly people are addicted to cigarettes.

“Even though the minister might say that increasing the cost by €1 will prevent them from smoking, I do not think it will. They will have to endure more hardship. The only comfort that many of these people have is their cigarette. If people buy five packets in a week, that would not be an awful lot. That will now cost in excess of €100,” he said. 

He said he did not like cigarettes and has never smoked, but said he was concerned that the increased cost will eat into elderly peoples’ social welfare or pension payment. 

Tobacco-free Ireland targets

Others, such as Labour’s Duncan Smith, questioned the success of the government’s quest for a tobacco-free Ireland, stating that when the strategy was launched by former health minister James Reilly in 2013, smoking rates were at 22%.

The target was to be at 5% by 2025, he said, but pointed out it now stands at 17%.

“It has been an abject failure by the government’s and the HSE’s own target for Ireland becoming a tobacco-free State,” he said, stating that the annual increase on a pack of cigarettes has become a substitute for what should be a robust public health policy.

“There are 100 deaths per week and 1,000 hospitalisations per week due to smoking. After this budget, it will cost €1 per cigarette. The government can make the cost €10 per cigarette,” said Smith, adding:

If it is not backed up, the taxation side, with a robust public health approach, it will continue to fail.

Sinn Féin’s Thomas Gould said there was a time when increasing the price of tobacco was an effective public health measure. However, he questioned if it is working. 

“We all understood and agreed with that. However, we must be honest about where we are now. This strategy now has diminishing returns in relation to people not smoking or giving up smoking. The reality is that it is just pushing the prices up and up again. As a strategy on its own, that is not enough,” he added. 

He said the government is driving people to the black market, stating that the government needs to take a more nuanced approach to solving addiction. 

Independent TD Barry Heneghan said he supported the increase in excise duty on tobacco products, but said a €1 increase is not really acceptable while coloured and flavoured vapes are being pushed on young people in shops and petrol stations. 

He called for the money raised in taxation to be used to jointly tackle smoking and vape addiction. 

Price hike hitting older people 

People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett said: 

“I was a smoker for many years, and I am glad to say I am off them. It is very important that we discourage young people from smoking, but I have to be honest and say I do not think adding a bill of €350 to people who are addicted over the course of the year is really the answer to that.

“We often hit older people, people on low incomes and people who are being punished for having an addiction. It would be better if they did not have it, but I do not personally believe in punishing them. I know there is some connection between price and consumption, but it is not an absolute law by any means.” 

Aontú’s Paul Lawless said he could not support the price hike on cigarettes as he believes it is punishing people who are addicted to cigarettes.

There may have been a value in increasing this a number of years ago, but it is at a point now where this is just inflicting more pain and more hardship on people.

“In some cases these are people on the lower margins as well. These are people who will sacrifice food, heating and other essentials for their cigarettes because they are so addicted. I urge the Government to reconsider this policy going forward. 

He asked the government to put its energy into tackling the proliferation of vape shops around the country, which he said are destroying young people.

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“Vapes are a gateway into cigarettes, so this is the new issue we need to tackle,” he said. 

The finance minister was asked at a press conference on Tuesday what the taxation plan is for tobacco into the future and whether the strategy is to just increase the price each year.

No taxation plan

Harris said there was no “taxation map on where to get to”, stating that it is a matter that is reviewed annually.

The Department of Health makes a submission each year to the Department of Finance, and it is considered. 

He said in previous years a price hike of 50c has been placed on a pack of cigarettes, stating that this year the government decided to go even higher to “build momentum” towards a tobacco-free Ireland. 

However, from an economic point of view, the minister acknowledged there is a diminishing return in terms of the tax take the more the government puts the price up.

“You do get to a saturation point in terms of additional taxation that is brought in,” said Harris. 

The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) has said the government should introduce tobacco-free generation legislation which would prohibit the sale of tobacco products to people born after a specified year.

It said it is necessary for what it calls “tobacco endgame,” while it has also recommended that the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes should be raised to over €20.

The HSE states that one in two smokers will die from a tobacco-related disease, and that every week, around 100 people die and around 1,000 people are hospitalised in Ireland from smoking-related illness.