Ireland - Tobacco Reporter

Ireland Mulls Single-Use Ban and Age Increase

The Minister for Health in Ireland wants to raise the minimum age for smoking to 21, according to a local press report. He would also like to ban disposable vaping products.

Stephen Donnelly said the government is also looking at a range of legislative measures “to come

down hard” on vaping.

He made the remarks at an event to mark the 20th anniversary of the workplace smoking ban in Ireland, which prohibited smoking in indoor commercial spaces.

The process for legislating new restrictions, which involves a public consultation, is complicated by Ireland’s inclusion in the EU single market.

Donnelly said he would personally recommend raising the smoking age and that legislation was being prepared in the event it was agreed upon at the government level.

“It’s a measure aimed at people who are 15, 16, 17 years of age that—with a smoking age of 18—they find it relatively easy to go to either buy the cigarettes themselves or get a friend or an older sibling to get them.

“But if you move to 21, it makes it much more difficult,” he said. The country raised the age to 18 last year.

A public consultation will also examine issues such as banning disposable vapes and extending prohibited smoking zones to outdoor seating areas.

April 4, 2024

Ireland Prepares Vape Tax

The government of Ireland is working to introduce a tax on e-cigarettes in 2025, reports The Irish Times.

Finance Minister Michael McGrath confirmed that his department had started work with the revenue department to announce the tax in the next budget and introduce it next year.

McGrath cited the vaping industry’s “insidious” targeting of e-cigarettes toward young people as justification for the tax.

“There’s no doubt, but it is a deliberate policy,” he was quoted as saying. “In my mind, what is happening when you see all the attractive flavors and names, it’s definitely targeting young people and very successfully.”

While acknowledging that e-cigarettes are helping some smokers quit more harmful combustible cigarettes, McGrath also noted that there are many unknowns about the long-term effects of e-cigarettes.

He said it was important for the Department of Finance’s proposed tax to align with policies of other departments around e-cigarettes and vapes, such as the Department of Health and the Department of Environment.

March 1, 2024

Ireland: Illegal Factory Shut Down

Irish Revenue and Customs officers, in cooperation with the national police service, shut down an illegal tobacco factory in north Dublin, seizing over €630,000 ($683,550.55) worth of cigarettes, reports the BBC.

Customs officers confiscated 758,000 illicit Marlboro cigarettes and over 1.4 metric tons of raw tobacco.

If sold legally, the seized products would have generated €500,000 in tax revenue for the Irish government.

The equipment in the facility is believed capable of producing over 250,000 cigarettes an hour along with pre-processing and packaging facilities.

February 26, 2024

Ireland Halts Vape Tax

Ireland’s finance minister, Michael McGrath, postponed a vaping tax over concerns that it would discourage smokers from quitting with e-cigarettes.

Officials from the Department of Finance cited the need to strike a balance between discouraging young people from vaping and supporting existing smokers who switch to e-cigarettes to quit. Health officials recommended e-cigarettes be taxed differently based on their comparative harm versus traditional cigarettes, according to media reports.

McGrath has said a new tax on vapes will be “challenging” to implement. “A domestic tax will require significant IT, administrative, control and compliance costs,” he said.

Tobacco harm reduction activists applauded the decision. “We welcome the decision of the minister of finance and ask the Irish government to keep a tax differential between electronic and traditional cigarettes in the future large enough to incentivize smokers to switch,” said Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, in a statement.

“The risk profile of vaping products is much lower than that of combustion cigarettes, and they should be taxed as such. If the tax had been approved, it would have pushed tens of thousands of vapers back to smoking.”

The government has not specified a new date for the vape tax. Some suspect it may await the updated EU Tobacco Tax Directive, which is expected to include an EU-wide excise tax on vaping products.

December 20, 2023

Third of Irish Youngsters Vape: Study

More than a third of Irish people aged 13 to 16 years old currently vape without having smoked before, reports The Irish Times, citing new research commissioned by Foroige Sligo.

After questioning 900 young people aged 10 to 24, the study found that across all age groups, there is a link between appearing “cool” and vaping. It also found that vaping allows some young people to feel connected to their peers.

Many respondents felt that the marketing of vapes targets young people with a “toy-like” attraction and inventiveness of products in terms of flavor, color, and personalization.

Josephine Lally, an independent social researcher who conducted the study, said she was struck by how vaping served as a tool for participation in social groups.

“It has become a part of their day to day life,” she was quoted as saying. “If you mention conventional cigarettes they’d say, ‘no way, I wouldn’t smoke’. They perceive vaping to be safer and that is an issue,” she said.

To tackle youth vaping, the research recommended consistency in public health messaging and a direct campaign to inform young people and their families about vaping.

October 29, 2023

HTPs: EU Rulemaking Challenged in Court

The European Commission will face a legal challenge over its attempt to restrict the sale of heated tobacco products (HTPs).

On Nov. 3, 2022, the European Union published a directive banning flavored HTPs throughout the union. The ban, which covers all flavors except tobacco, officially took effect Nov. 23, 2022. EU member states were given until July 23, 2023, to transpose the rule into national legislation.

When the Ireland did so, it was challenged in the Irish High Court by PJ Carroll & Co. and Nicoventures Trading. The nicotine companies argued that the European Commission had exceeded the powers delegated to it under tobacco products legislation approved by the European Council and the European Parliament. According to them, the Commission made its decision based on political grounds rather than legal grounds.

In his judgment, Irish High Court Justice Cian Ferriter noted that the Commission had effectively prohibited “a category of tobacco product which was new on the market, which had not been in existence at the time of the enactment of the Tobacco Products Directive in 2014 and which had not been the subject of separate policy and health assessments…”.

“It is at least arguable that this involved a political choice which was only open to the EU legislature and not to the Commission,” Ferriter said.

According to Eureporter, the Dublin court will now refer the case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

The nicotine companies and the Irish High Court are not the first to raise concerns about regulatory overreach. When the Commission adopted its directive in 2022, four EU member states objected that the directive involved “essential elements reserved for the European legislators.”

October 18, 2023

Ireland Raises Cigarette Prices, Plans Vape Tax

Ireland increased the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes by €0.75 ($0.80) and announced a new tax on vaping products for next year, reports The Irish Times. Other tobacco products will be subject to a pro-rate increase.

The move “supports public health policy to reduce smoking levels in Irish society,” according to Finance Minister Michael McGrath.

“In light of public health interests, continuing delays to the revision of the Tobacco Products Tax Directive and the Program for government commitment to tax e-cigarettes and vaping products, I am proposing to introduce a domestic tax on these products [e-cigarettes and vaping products] in next year’s budget,” said McGrath.

“Considerable preparatory work” by the Department of Finance and Revenue will be necessary to draft the underpinning legislation, he said.

“Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet, and there has been an explosion in youth use of e-cigarettes that has been further fueled by the advent of disposable vapes,” said Chris Macey, director of advocacy with the Irish Heart Foundation. “We can’t afford to wait a moment longer than necessary to impose this tax.”

The Irish Heart Foundation called on the finance minister last week to introduce a €0.10 per milliliter tax on e-liquid.

Smokers’ rights group warned against unintended consequences. “Annual tax hikes on tobacco are punishing consumers for enjoying a perfectly legitimate habit,” said John Mallon, spokesperson for Forest Ireland. “Not only does it discriminate against consumers on lower incomes, [but] it will drive even more smokers to the black market.” Mallon said smokers “don’t deserve” the excise increase.

“Legitimate retailers will lose business to criminal gangs, and smokers who stay within the law will be further punished compared to those who, understandably, buy their tobacco from illicit traders,” he said.

October 11, 2023

Superdrug to Stop Selling Disposables in UK and Ireland

Superdrug will stop selling disposable vape products in its U.K. and Ireland stores following environmental concern over the products, reports the Guardian.

The retailer noted that it would have its stock completely cleared out by the end of the year.

“The rate that consumers are using single-use vapes and discarding them is worrying and alarming for the environment,” said Lucy Morton-Channon, Superdrug’s head of environment, social and governance. “The lasting effects that single-use vapes are having on the environment needs to be addressed, and I am pleased that we’ve decided to remove them from all stores.”

Superdrug also cited risk of fire from improper vape disposal as a reason for discontinuing sales.

September 25, 2023

Vaping to be Banned for Those Under 18

Ireland will ban vaping for those under the age of 18, effective July, reports the Irish Times.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will bring a memo to the Cabinet this week outlining the full legislation. The new law is expected to be enacted before the lower house of Parliament’s summer recess in mid-July.

The legislation includes restrictions on the types of retailers allowed to sell vapes or nicotine-inhaling products as well as measures to curb advertising of nicotine-inhaling products near schools and other locations frequented by kids and young adults.

Donnelly is expected to tell the Cabinet that there is “clear evidence” that nicotine exposure in young people has long-term effects on brain development, referencing recently published surveys of Irish school-aged kids. The surveys, including the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey from 2018 and the European Schools Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs survey from 2019, showed that 9 percent of 12-year-olds to 17-year-olds and 15.5 percent of 15-year-olds and 16-year-olds used electronic cigarettes in the past 30 days. Donnelly is also expected to reference a Health Research Board review that found that kids who vaped were five times more likely to begin smoking.

The government is expected to prioritize passage of the bill through the Oireachtas to allow for full debate and discussion before sending the legislation to President Michael D. Higgins for his signature.

May 30, 2023

Illicit Tobacco Trade Up in Ireland

The illegal cigarette trade cost the Irish government approximately €384 million ($415.25 million) in lost excise duty and value-added tax during 2022, reports the Irish Examiner, citing estimates by the Revenue Commissioners.

A survey carried out by Ipsos MRBI on behalf of the Revenue Commissioners, shows that 17 percent of all cigarette packs held by smokers in 2022 were illegal. This is up from 13 percent in 2021.

An illicit rate of 17 percent equates to approximately 31.7 million illegal packs. Nearly nine in 10 of those illegal packs were classified as contraband—that is, normal commercial brands that were purchased abroad and brought into the country. A further 13 percent of cigarette packs were found to be legal but with no Irish duty paid—up 8 percent from 2021.

The survey also found 17 percent of pouches of roll-your-own tobacco held by smokers surveyed were illegal and 10 percent were legal but with no Irish duty paid.

In 2022, the Revenue Commissioners seized 51.6 million cigarettes valued at €39.5 million, and 11,803 kg of tobacco with an estimated value of €8.5 million.

The agency obtained 41 summary convictions relating to the sale of illicit tobacco, four of which were on indictment with fines of €76,250 imposed.

There were 24 convictions relating to tobacco smuggling in 2022, four of which were on indictment, with fines of €35,100 imposed.

May 22, 2023

Tag: Ireland