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Labour deputy Jan O'Sullivan tells EU to butt out of Irish health policy
EUROPEAN courts have been told to butt out of Irish health policy by Labour's Jan O'Sullivan, who says a ruling that Ireland's minimum price for cigarettes "is a prime example of competition law gone mad".
"Competition law is all well and good, but when it starts to get in the way of reasonable measures, which are put in place in the greater public interest, it is clear that something has gone wrong," said the Limerick TD and her party's spokesperson on health.
She was reacting to a ruling from the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg last week which found that the Government's setting a minimum price on tobacco products violated a European directive. The European Commission argued directives had also been breached by Ireland by threatening free competition and restricting the right of tobacco manufacturers to determine the price of their products.
But Deputy O'Sullivan said the logic behind Ireland's tobacco pricing policies could not be argued with.
The Office of Tobacco Control, part of the Department of Health, estimates that one quarter of all deaths in Ireland are linked to smoking and that "price is the single key determining factor in stopping young people from smoking and getting smokers to give up and that has been proven in study after study".
According to Deputy O'Sullivan: "Ireland has used pricing as a mechanism to deter smoking, particularly among young people, and today's ruling will potentially lead to a situation where the price of cigarettes drops immediately. This is most regrettable and the ruling could well undo much of the progress that has been made in recent years, in discouraging new smokers. When you consider that nearly 6,000 people die every year from the effects of smoking, it is clear that we need a rapid response to today's setback."
"The Irish Cancer Society has called on the government to maintain high price by increasing tax tobacco products and to bring in legislation to prohibit tobacco manufacturers from selling tobacco products below cost, and I would certainly add my support to those calls," said Deputy O'Sullivan.
But the European ruling has been welcomed by Irish tobacco companies like Gallaghers and Carrolls, although the have added that the growing problem of cigarette smuggling in Ireland, which has the highest cigarette prices in Europe, will harm their bottom line and put jobs in the grocery sector at continued risk.
Tobacco manufacturers and retailers have claimed that one in five cigarettes smoked in Ireland today come from the black market. In Limerick, small-time smugglers openly advertise cheap cigarettes on lamp-posts and in shops, while contraband tobacco is also sold at street markets and door-to-door on housing estates.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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