Budget 2017: Price of cigarettes rises for fifth year in a row

The price of a pack of 20 cigarettes has been hiked by 50c to around €11, but the price of a pint will remain the same.

It is the fifth year in a row the cost of cigarettes has been increased as the Government aims to reduce, by 2025, the prevalence of smoking to below 5% of the population.

Donal Buggy, head of services and advocacy at the Irish Cancer Society, said the price hike sent a strong signal to the tobacco industry the Government was serious in its aim to achieve a tobacco-free Ireland.