53% of outlets in study sold cigarettes to child

RETAILERS HAVE been accused of “dishing out cigarettes like sweets” to underage customers, following a survey in the northwest which found that more than half of outlets tested sold tobacco to minors.

The Health Service Executive called on retailers to take their legal responsibilities seriously in order to protect the health of children, after test purchases carried out over the mid-term break in October found that 53 per cent sold cigarettes to an underage customer.

The survey showed that the proportion of breaches had almost doubled since a similar compliance check in 2008 found that 28 per cent of retailers sold tobacco to minors.

During the two-day school break, a senior environmental health officer with the HSE accompanied a 16-year-old to 17 premises in Sligo and Leitrim. In nine of the outlets, cigarettes were sold to the teenager. The HSE has not identified the premises which breached the law.

Anne Kellegher, the environmental health officer, who accompanied the child buying the cigarettes, said some retailers “were dishing out cigarettes like sweets and in most cases did not even look at the person they were serving, much less inquire about their age”.

The HSE said that only one retailer asked for ID. It said the remainder who did not sell the cigarettes had relied on the child telling the truth about age.

The child had been advised to tell the truth if asked their age, but normally a child wishing to buy cigarettes would not, suggesting that the level of sales to minors could be higher than the 53 per cent experienced in the test, the HSE said.

It has now written to every retailer in the Sligo, Leitrim and west Cavan area explaining the law and advising retailers to ask young people for ID.

The law prohibits the sale of cigarettes to those under the age of 18 and the ban also covers sales from vending machines. One purchase was made by the 16-year-old from a vending machine.

The law requires retailers to make “all reasonable efforts” to ensure the customer is 18 or older.

The HSE said some retailers had apologised to the child when they refused a sale.

“Retailers are missing the point that to refuse a sale to a child is to protect the health of that child into the future,” said principal environmental health officer Rita O’Grady.

She expressed disappointment at the high rate of sales. A survey carried out by the Office of Tobacco Control in 2010 found one in seven 15-17-year-olds smokes.