ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) wants a minimum increase of 20p on the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes in next month's Budget.
"Definitive research clearly shows that price increase is a significant factor in reducing the number of people engaged in tobacco use", the chairman of ASH, Dr Luke Clancy, said yesterday. This was particularly true of young people. Price was a significant factor in their deciding whether to experiment with tobacco.
The organisation says it is concerned that the previous minister for finance, Mr Ruairi Quinn, refused to push the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes over £3.
ASH says 6,000 people die from the effects of tobacco in Ireland each year.