Newsagent group calls for ID cards

AN IDENTITY card system needs to be introduced immediately to ensure tobacco is not sold to minors, says the umbrella body for convenience stores and newsagents throughout the country.

Speaking in the wake of a recent landmark court case, which found that a shop assistant and not her employer was negligent by selling cigarettes to a minor, Vincent Jennings, chief executive of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association, said there was an obvious need for stricter controls.

In the past 15 years, 20 members of the 1,600-strong association have been prosecuted by the courts for selling tobacco to minors.

This statistic illustrated the fact that shop owners were responsible in their attitude to the legislation, said Mr Jennings.

A case this month brought against the owner of a shop in Foxford, Co Mayo, by the Health Service Executive was vitally important in that the judge ruled that the shop assistant was not acting as an agent of her employer because, “her actions were a direct and flagrant flouting of her employer’s training and instructions”.

It had invariably been the case that the employer took full responsibility despite the fact that many would not be working behind the shop counter, said Mr Jennings.

In the case against the Foxford shop owner, the defendant had shown to the court that he had operated under a comprehensive and stringent system of training for his employees.

The employer in question was typical of newsagent association members who are doing everything in their power to ensure the legislation of tobacco sales is upheld.

Mr Jennings said there were other factors that would have to be considered such as the growing rate of cigarette smuggling into the country that enabled minors to buy cigarettes on the black market.

Unlike alcohol it is not illegal for a minor to purchase cigarettes, but the sale of tobacco to minors is illegal.

Retailers have tried to work with health authorities and this association encourages shop owners to tell staff that selling cigarettes to under-18s is a sacking offence, but the newsagents’ association would welcome the introduction of a “no card, no sale” system for tobacco sales as an added precaution, he said.