Cigarette packaging: Lessening the lure of smoking

IRELAND is set to become the first country in Europe to ban branded cigarette packets. The Seanad passed the plain packaging law yesterday, which also makes it illegal to sell cigarettes in lipstick-style containers designed for female smokers.

The Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2014 requires the removal of all industry marketing from tobacco packaging.

It has now passed all stages of the Oireachtas and is expected to be signed into law by President Higgins this month.

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, James Reilly, is to be congratulated in holding fast against a series of broadsides from the tobacco industry against the move.

Announcing the measures, he said: “The interests of public health will be served when children decide never to take up smoking in the first place and if smokers are persuaded to quit. We have a duty to prevent our children from being lured into a killer addiction.”

Mr Reilly joins former health minister Micheál Martin in taking on the might of the tobacco giants.

While in that portfolio, Mr Reilly came in for a great deal of criticism, mostly from the media. It is important, therefore, that we recognise a job well done.

Mr Reilly has shown courage and resolve in bringing this important measure to fruition.

Generations to come will thank him for it.