The Irish anti-smoking group, ASH Ireland, is fuming that the Government didn’t raise the price of smokes higher than they did in Budget 2012.
If you’re heading down to the shops to buy a pack of smokes you can now expect to pay an extra 25-cent per pack. This will see the leading American-Swiss brand of cigarettes going up to €8.90 per carton.
However, ASH Ireland has claimed that this is not enough to stop young people from taking up smoking or to encourage smokers to quit. They also said that the idea of increased cigarette smuggling due to a major price hike is simply a red herring used by the tobacco industry. Illegal smuggling needs to be treated as a ‘separate and very serious criminal issue’, it said.
According to ASH Ireland chairman, Dr Brian Maurer, the Government has their priorities wrong and are failing to deal with the issue of smuggling by not increasing prices as it’s ‘confounded by its lack of commitment to dealing with the crime of tobacco smuggling’.
“Tobacco use is responsible for more deaths from heart and circulatory disease, cancer and respiratory illness than any other cause. The cost to the state of smoking related illness is well over €1 billion,” he explained.
Will you welcome the recent price hike and the benefits it will have for society and the individual, or is it ‘not enough’ as ASH Ireland has said?
