Health groups seek €2 increase in cigarette prices
The Irish Cancer Society and the Irish Heart Foundation have joined forces to seek a €2 increase in the price of cigarettes in the forthcoming emergency Budget.
The campaign is also being supported by the anti-smoking group ASH Ireland.
The three organisations say the move could raise up to €420m in revenue for the State while also encouraging smokers to quit the habit.
They have commissioned economist Jim Power to spell out the financial arguments in favour of a large hike in cigarette prices.
However, critics have claimed that an increase of that magnitude would victimise the lower paid and would force smokers to buy from the black market.
In 2007, retailers lost €453m due to smuggled cigarettes, third biggest supplier of tobacco in Ireland, according to the National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) Ireland.
NFRN district president Martin Mulligan called on the Office of Tobacco Control (OTC) to focus their attention on these illegal traders of tobacco.
"Every day I am getting reports from retailers who are seeing their livelihoods being threatened by this illegal trade," he said.
"The OTC and Department of Health do nothing to tackle the real issue of tobacco hawking and the illicit trade which costs the Exchequer hundreds of millions every year.
"It is absolutely imperative that the Government does not increase the price of tobacco in the Budget. For the past number of years we have seen that as the Government increases the price of cigarettes, the black market trade in tobacco soars."
