The price of 20 cigarettes should rise by £2 a packet over the next four years to fund a campaign to cut the number of smokers, an Oireachtas Committee will recommend today.
The Joint Committee on Health and Children will consider a report on the health concerns caused by tobacco following months of research by a subcommittee, chaired by Fine Gael TD Mr Gay Mitchell.
Identification cards used by young adults to prove their ages in pubs and discos should be required to buy cigarettes, while smoking should be banned in pubs to cut down the risks of passive smoking.
The TDs and senators will back the plan by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to outlaw cigarette vending machines on the grounds that shop-owners or publicans cannot properly monitor them.
Furthermore, the committee will propose that directors of tobacco companies should be barred from sitting on the board of any healthcare company, such as BUPA or the Voluntary Health Insurance.