Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I agree with the thrust of what Deputy Cullinane is trying to achieve. I am not going to accept the amendments, not because I do not agree with what he is saying, but because we can go broader than this. I got a briefing from the Department in response to the Deputy's amendments. There are two points to make. One is we are doing the research all the time. The research is ongoing, be it through the HRB, the Department or academic partnerships. Second, the experts made the interesting point that we can look at reducing the nicotine content because that is the addictive substance but much of the harm comes from things like tar, added chemicals and other areas. They say yes to the broad idea but let us be broader. Let us do the kind of research the Deputy is discussing on filters, added chemicals, tar content and nicotine content. That is the product.

From a policy perspective, let us keep looking at the research on things like a smoke-free generation, tobacco companies paying for associated health costs and other things. I agree with what Deputy Cullinane is proposing but we can expand on that rather than through an amendment to the Bill.