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A TOTAL OF 306 retailers around the country were targeted in sting sales operations in the first nine months of last year to see if they were selling cigarettes to minors.
The ‘test’ tobacco sales to minors are carried out by the Health Service Executive (HSE) every year.
In Ireland, it is illegal to sell cigarettes to someone under the age of 18.
The HSE carries out ‘test’ cases on retailers, such as supermarkets and newsagents, throughout the year in order to inspect the law is being adhered to. For the first three quarters of 2017, there were eight convictions for breaching the law.
The fines imposed ranged from €400 to €2000, with some sellers being barred from selling tobacco products for a period of one or two days.
In 2016 the HSE Tobacco Control Inspection Programme carried out 540 test purchases of tobacco products to minors, of which 472 retailers were compliant, representing 87% compliance.
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The test cases resulted in 35 convictions.
One case in 2016 resulted in Tesco Ireland having to donate €1,000 to a court poor-box to avoid a three-day ban on selling tobacco products after a 17-year-old test purchaser managed to buy a pack of cigarettes.
A recent European School Study showed that the number of schoolchildren smoking decreased in almost all countries surveyed, including Ireland, in the past 20 years.
It found that more boys than girls smoke in Ireland.
In Ireland, smoking is the leading cause of avoidable death. Nearly 5,500 people die in Ireland each year from the effects of smoking and thousands of others are ill because of smoking-related diseases.
The Irish Cancer Society’s We Can Quit programme has been launched this month to help people give up smoking in 2018. The 12 week programme is a free and offers free nicotine replacement therapy, a weekly smoking cessation group and one to one support.
It has been rolled out in several locations across North and South Dublin and Cork. Communities include Blanchardstown, Coolock, balbriggan, Swords, Tallaght, Rialto, Mallow, Ballyphehane and Mayfield.
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@Mary Nugent: definitely….im a little confused tho where they actually pouring normal everyday bleach in the river…if so i would imagine it would take thousands of ltrs of it to try clean a river…..it sounds as mad as trump saying we could inject bleach to get rid of civid
@Dave Ryan: from the article above, they were using sodium hypochlorite, a heavily regulated industrial chemical, that has strict rules on it in ireland as to its use and release into the environment or waterways.
It might be baffling, if it wasn’t a local authority. More backwards policies as per usual
@Asio_Otus: its unbelievable… obviously its true and its happened for nearly 30 years….it just still seems absolutely crazy and unbelievable it really is something like trump would say but everyone knows ya just can’t do it
There were otters and seatrout , place/flounder in that bay in the 60′s 70′s … it is devoid of life now other than winter swimmers. The source of the contamination must be found ..this is a brooklet …not a river ..it is not that hard @Pat Fitzgerald
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