The Tobacco (Health Promotion and Protection) Act, 1988, and the Tobacco (Health Promotion and Protection) Regulations, 1995, provide for a range of anti-smoking measures including prohibition on the sale of tobacco products to persons under the age of 16 years.
Promoting a smoke free society is a priority for myself and my Department. I am currently conducting a fundamental review on smoking and health policy and when this is completed I will bring forward proposals for further measures to protect children.
With regard to prosecutions for sale of tobacco products to under age persons under the Tobacco (Health Promotion and Protection) Act, 1988, one prosecution took place in the five years from 1993 to 1997. I will be looking in particular at the area of enforcement in the review on smoking and health that is under way. Given the reported prevalence of smoking among school children this is clearly an unsatisfactory record. The retail organisations are aware of the prohibition on sale of cigarettes to minors and campaigns to highlight this area have been carried out by my Department in recent years.
I would like to draw attention to the recent successful prosecutions brought by the Western Health Board against retailers for sales of cigarettes to under age persons. This is to be welcomed and highlights our commitment to tackling this problem.
