HSE to ‘name and shame’ premises flouting smoking ban
Yesterday, the HSE published the first of its quarterly reports revealing 11 convictions were secured between January and March for smoking-related offences — with seven in Donegal.
Eight of the 11 convictions related to smoking in the workplace, typically a pub, while three related to selling tobacco to minors.
In one case involving an unnamed premises in Mullinahone, Co Tipperary, the offence resulted in a fine of €1,600 and costs of €1,921 to the HSE as well as removal from the register of tobacco retailers for two months. The maximum amount of time a business can be banned from selling tobacco is three months.
In the decade since the introduction of the Section 47 laws in 2004, a total of 251 prosecutions have been taken by the HSE, resulting in 263 convictions.
The HSE said that in recent years, more than half of all prosecutions related to smoking areas in licensed premises, and that “a number of owners and proprietors have been prosecuted and convicted on multiple occasions”.
When it comes to selling tobacco to children, HSE test-buying operations alongside retail audits have resulted in 43 prosecutions and 33 convictions between 2009 and 2013.
Dave Molloy, of the HSE environmental health tobacco unit, said reports charting convictions brought for flouting the smoking ban would be published every three months.
As for the sale of tobacco to minors, he said: “We have targeted an increase in the number of test buyers this year.”
He said it was “particularly difficult” to prove sale of tobacco to minors without the use of test buyers, who need to be protected.
In relation to premises convicted for flouting the smoking ban, he said there were “very few who do so inadvertently”.
The first quarterly report does not name all those convicted as some are sole traders and thus protected by the Data Protection Act.
However, Mr Molloy said a proposal, in the Tobacco Free Ireland plan published last year, contains a provision that would mean full details could be published if passed into law.
Many of the offences in the first quarterly report were reportedly detected by environmental health officers on the ground and were not triggered by a sole offence, he said.
The HSE is also keen to increase public awareness of its Compliance Line, through which people can report non-compliance with the smoking ban or on the sale of tobacco to minors.
- 11 convictions for smoking ban offences in first quarter of 2014;
- Seven convictions in Donegal;
- 263 similar convictions in the past decade;
- 33 convictions in five years to end of 2013 for sale of tobacco to minors.
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