Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 September 2024
274. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health his views on the fact that many retail staff are aged between 18 and 20 years and may have to refuse to sell cigarettes to persons older than them, due to his planned nicotine inhaling products Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37096/24]
View answerMy Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill will increase the minimum legal age of sale of tobacco products to 21. It is designed to decrease our 18% smoking rate in adults and particularly to impact on those under 18 who are less likely to have friends aged 21 or over who might purchase cigarettes for them. This is an urgent and necessary intervention as our 2022 data shows us that 1 in 20 of our children aged 10-17 are current smokers.
Combustible tobacco products continue to cause a vast range of catastrophic illnesses in our country and to kill two out of three smokers. My aim with this Bill is to help bring our smoking rate to less than 5% of our adult population and to zero for our children.
