Smoking figures: Shops which sell cigarettes to minors could face the ultimate penalty of being banned completely from selling tobacco products if the Government now introduces one of the provisions of the 2002 Public Health Tobacco Act, Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent
And yesterday, as new figures indicated that one-fifth of 15- to 18-year-olds continue to smoke even though it is illegal for shops to sell tobacco to them, a board member of Ash Ireland said it was unfortunate the provision of the 2002 Act had not already been put in place.
Dr Fenton Howell, a public health specialist, said this was because it was "too difficult" under current legislation to successfully bring prosecutions against retailers who sold cigarettes to under-18s. Only a small number of prosecutions are successfully taken every year.
Dr Howell said that when prosecutions were brought, often after young people agreed to try to buy cigarettes on behalf of health officials, shop-owners claimed "entrapment". And even when prosecutions were brought, the penalties on conviction were far from sufficient, he said.
"What we want to do is to ensure retailers are licensed as is envisaged in the Act and if they break the law they should lose their licence and not be allowed sell tobacco. I think it's unfortunate that hasn't been brought in," he said.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Health Mary Harney said yesterday she would take legal advice on the banning of 10 packs of cigarettes, often bought by young people.
Ms Harney was speaking at the launch of the 2004 annual report of the Office of Tobacco Control (OTC). It shows the numbers smoking in the State have declined from 31 per cent in 1998 to 23.6 per cent in August 2005. Less than one in four people now smoke.
Dr Michael Boland, chairman of the OTC, warned, however, that there was no room for complacency as the downward trend in smoking prevalence had shown a slight reversal in recent months. Those who quit, he said, were being replaced by a new generation of smokers induced by the tobacco industry.
He said now was the time to turn attention to more vigorous enforcement of the law covering the sale of tobacco to minors. New research indicated 92 per cent of young people were not asked for their ID when they purchased cigarettes, he said.
It also indicated that three-quarters of those under 17 years who smoked, bought packs of 10 cigarettes.
"Together with the recent slight upward trend in cigarette smoking, the figures in relation to young people continue to be extremely worrying," he said.
He urged Ms Harney to lobby for an increase in the price of cigarettes in this year's Budget saying it would discourage young people from smoking. The increase should be "above the rate of inflation", he said.
He also called for a complete ban on all tobacco advertising.
On increasing taxes on cigarettes in the Budget, Ms Harney said 79 per cent of the cost of cigarettes was already Government tax and duties. She added that raising taxes on cigarettes would have an impact on the consumer price index, but she did not rule it out.
She also said the law needed to be enforced regarding the sale of cigarettes to minors. Retailers who broke the law needed to be "identified, prosecuted and pursued".
There is now 94 per cent compliance with the smoking ban and the OTC said there had been no adverse impact on the hospitality sector with bar retail sales in volume terms having increased over the past three months when compared with the same period last year. Numbers employed in this sector also increased by 1,400 in the first quarter of this year compared with the last quarter of 2004, it said.