Smoking ‘big problem’ in Ireland despite downturn

Ireland’s Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar TD, has indicated that the incidence of smoking in Ireland might have dropped below 20 percent, according to a story by Michael Staines for the Evening Herald.

Varadkar was said to have ‘hailed figures showing that the number of smokers in Ireland may have fallen below 20 percent for the first time’, but there was no indication of the source of the figures.

However, Varadkar was speaking at an event to launch a new phase of the Health Service Executive’s QUIT campaign, which is said to have encouraged 500,000 quit attempts since it was started in 2011.

Varadkar said that smokers who used the free QUIT services were twice as likely to quit as were those who didn’t use the services.

Dr. Stephanie O’Keefe, National Director for Health and Wellbeing, who admitted that Ireland still had a “big problem” with smoking, said the QUIT team offered constant support throughout the initial quitting period with smokers generally speaking to the same advisor every time they called.

“Really the campaign is about providing any kind of support that might get people through the really rough patch at the start of the quitting period,” she said.