Shopkeepers To Be Named and Shamed For Selling Cigarettes to Kids

Shop owners who sell cigarettes to children are to be named and shamed as part of a new Bill that will also see offenders face business suspensions if they are caught. The Department of Health is considering the introduction of on-the-spot fines for people who sell cigarettes to youngsters illegally, and their details would later be published online. According to the Irish Times, the proposed measures have been revisited by Minister for Health Simon Harris after first being suggested by previous health minister James Reilly in 2014. They include an overhaul of tobacco licensing in Ireland and new rules on self-service vending machines and selling e-cigarettes.

A Department of Health spokeswoman told the newspaper:

“Vending machines by their very presence constitute a means of advertising and promoting tobacco products.

“One of the most compelling reasons to strengthen the rules on tobacco products is the detrimental impact of tobacco consumption on people’s health.

“In order to move closer to a tobacco-free society by 2025, it is necessary to continue to drive regulation that restricts the access and exposure of the general population to tobacco products."

Ireland's plans for plain tobacco product packaging are expected to come into effect in 2017.