Ireland a step closer to being tobacco-free

THE Government is set to step up measures to move Ireland closer to becoming a tobacco-free society, it emerged yesterday.

Speaking at the launch of the OTC annual report for 2005 yesterday, Minister of State at the Department of Health, Sean Power said the Government would launch a consultation process with the aim of enacting further provisions of the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts.

Many of the provisions could be introduced by the end of the year, including the possibility of a ban on the sale of packs fewer than 20 cigarettes.

Other provisions to be discussed include:

Allowing vending machines in bars and clubs only and that they be token operated rather than cash operated.

Sweets that resemble cigarettes be banned.

The display of tobacco products in retail premises could also be scrapped, in addition to the introduction of closed containers for tobacco products which would not carry any advertising.

A complete ban on all forms of tobacco advertising, even at point-of-sale, is another possibility, although some aspects of the act are currently being challenged before the High Court.

A spokesperson for the department said of the consultation: “It is expected that submissions will be received from industry and business and also from the pro-health NGOs and members of the public. In any event, it is expected that most of the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts will be commenced by end 2006.”

The latest OTC annual report showed that the official level of compliance with the ban introduced at the end of March 2004 is 95%.

It also revealed that in a survey conducted by TNS mrbi in February and December 2005, more than one in five smokers had chosen not to smoke at all when out socialising.

The survey showed that 95% of respondents who were smokers and who attended a pub in the previous fortnight had either smoked outside or had not smoked at all.

Almost all indoor workers said their work atmosphere had not been smoky since the introduction of the ban and 95% of those who had been to a pub in the past fortnight said it was not smoky. The comparable figure before the introduction of the ban was 46%.

A total of 1,353 calls were made to the OTC lo-call compliance line, a lower call volume than in 2004.

A total of 35,042 inspections were completed last year by environmental health officers under the National Inspection Programme, with 95% of premises found to be compliant.

As revealed in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, 38 prosecutions were undertaken last year in relation to the workplace smoking ban.

A further 10 prosecutions have already been undertaken this year. In all, around 1,700 premises were found to have breached the ban.

Of last year’s prosecutions, 32 were in respect of licensed premises, four involved taxi companies, one was against a retail shop and another against a member of the public for smoking in a specified no-smoking area.