Irish and international experts are to gather today in Dublin's Croke Park conference centre to discuss Ireland's "epidemic" of young smokers and to mark the World Health Organisation's annual World No Tobacco Day.
The conference, sponsored by the Office of Tobacco Control (OTC), is the first of its kind in Ireland, where an estimated 16 per cent of young people between the ages of 12 and 17 are regular smokers.
Despite recent anti-smoking efforts including the 2004 workplace smoking ban and cigarette price increases, the conference's keynote speaker said Ireland needed to do more to stop the country's youngest smokers from lighting up.
"Many of us across the pond thought that you had solved the problem of smoking here with the smoking ban," said Prof Kenneth Warner, dean of the University of Michigan's school of public health.
"But when I arrived here, I was a little surprised at the incredible number of young people smoking in the streets of Dublin - some that couldn't be more than 12 years old."
A 2006 OTC study found that 78 per cent of smokers began smoking before age 18, including 53 per cent who began before age 15.
Prof Warner attributes the high numbers of young smokers in part to widespread acceptance of smoking as a lifestyle choice.
"People do not appreciate how bad smoking is for you," he said. "They think it can't be that bad because it's legal, but smoking is the greatest single environmental health hazard."
And unlike the US, where smoking rates have dropped significantly and most smokers feel some kind of social stigma, Prof Warner said many people in Ireland did not see a problem with smoking - even at a young age.
"In the US and elsewhere, smokers have become so ostracised that you can see shame on their faces, but I don't see that here," he said.
And though selling tobacco to under-18s in Ireland is a punishable offence, more than nine out of 10 of the underage smokers in the OTC study reported that they were not asked for an ID when purchasing tobacco.
Prof Warner also blamed the directed, aggressive marketing of tobacco companies for the high numbers of young smokers.
He said point-of-sale advertising, with cigarettes advertised alongside sweets or other youth-oriented products in shops, was a significant problem along with specially-designed cigarettes and packaging for a new, young audience.
A new ban on the 10-pack of cigarettes, effective today, aims to cut off youth tobacco spending. The smaller, cheaper packs are popular among younger smokers and have been banned in many other countries.
Within the tobacco industry, Prof Warner said the smaller packages are referred to as "kiddie packs".
Prof Warner and OTC chief executive Éamonn Rossi said the 10-pack ban was just one of the many steps that needed to be taken to stop young people from smoking.
They said further advertising bans and a targeted media campaign would be necessary to change current smoking rates.
"There is no silver bullet, no one factor that can help us reduce the prevalence of youth smoking," Mr Rossi said.
"Our job as a society is to decide how we best protect our children and make sure children don't take up this noxious habit in the first place."