THE tobacco industry’s unprecedented visit to Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his ministers Michael Noonan and Alan Shatter would appear to have been a failure.

Forcing tobacco companies to use generic packaging will not make it easier for the illicit trade in counterfeit cigarettes to prosper, Health Minister James Reilly has insisted.

The Health Minister James Reilly has revealed his father and brother died from smoking-related illness as Ireland becomes only the second country to clamp down on tobacco marketing.

Ireland is set to become the second country in the world to introduce plain pack cigarettes, it emerged today.

The Government should consider taking a legal case against big tobacco companies for the health costs their industry is knowingly causing the State.

A new Eurobarometer on attitudes towards tobacco shows that Ireland has the lowest average age of starting smoking at 16.4 years, compared to an EU average of 17.6 years.

IRELAND is in danger of slipping back to pre-smoking ban levels because of the Government’s failure to implement a comprehensive anti-smoking strategy, warns the Irish Heart Foundation.

Anti-smoking campaigners today called for pictures of the health effects of smoking to be emblazoned across 80% of cigarette packs in future.

The Government was today urged to take a three-pronged approach to tackling smoking by hiking taxes, cracking down on smuggling and introducing schemes to wean users off the habit.

The Government was today urged to roll out more support services to help smokers kick their addiction as research revealed 90% of people would find it tough to quit.

Anti-smoking campaigns step up a gear today, to mark World No Tobacco Day.

IRELAND’S smokers are among the most inconsiderate in the EU with up to a third smoking around young children and pregnant women.

THERE has been a massive increase in the number of young girls from low-income backgrounds taking up smoking, the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) warned yesterday.

There has been a massive increase in the number of young girls from low-income backgrounds taking up smoking, it was warned today.

The vast majority of Irish workplaces are complying with the Government’s smoking ban, according to figures released today by the Office of Tobacco Control.

One person dies from a tobacco-related disease every six and a half seconds, the head of the UN health agency warned today, ahead of its annual World No Tobacco Day.

Today is World No Tobacco Day.

FOR Deirdre O’Kane, giving up smoking was no laughing matter.

The Irish Cancer Society has called on the Government to remove tobacco from the Consumer Price index, a move that would allow it to increase the price of cigarettes without affecting inflation.

Today is World No Tobacco Day.