COUNTY Limerick politician and reformed smoker Richard O’Donoghue was all huff and puff this week over the 50 cent increase in the price of a packet of cigarettes in Budget 2023.
The rise came into effect on the night of last week’s budget, leaving the price of 20 cigarettes now standing around €16.
In the Dáil, Independent TD Richard O’Donoghue said: “I am a reformed smoker. I gave up cigarettes because I wanted to give them up and because of my health at the time. Taxing people for whom this is their only comfort is not the right thing to do.
“This is the only comfort that many people have. They might suffer from a nervous disposition or, as some people said to me, it is their only bit of sanity even though they do not smoke much.”
Deputy O’Donoghue also questioned the timing of the now almost annual increase, noting it as “four months out from when many smokers, such as pensioners, will be getting their modest rise in welfare payments”.
O’Donoghue was supported on the issue by his Rural Independent Group colleague Michael Healy-Rae of Kerry, who claimed that smoking means a lot to certain people.
“Like the Minister and the Government, I would be happier if nobody smoked ever again. But it is the crutch in life for some people. It is what they look forward to. It is the only little luxury that they have.”
