‘Sting’ shows a third of under-18s bought cigarettes

Nearly a third of teenagers who took part in an undercover 'sting' were able to buy cigarettes -- despite being underage. An undercover operation by the Office of Tobacco Control found that 68pc of retailers refused to sell cigarettes to minors -- an 8pc improvement on the year before, it was revealed yesterday. Teenagers posed as customers during the sting, which showed that the older the teenager was, the easier it became to buy cigarettes. The survey found that four-in-10 16-year-olds were able to buy cigarettes; one-in-10 15-year-olds were unchallenged by shopkeepers; and 6pc of 14-year-olds made the purchases. Independent grocers were the least likely to ask for ID. A quarter of teenagers wrongly think they are allowed to buy cigarettes in shops despite being underage, the watchdog found. However, this figure has fallen by 5pc since an in-store advertising ban came into effect a year ago. The report said eight cases were taken over sales of cigarettes to minors and six resulted in conviction -- with one receiving the probation act. There were 25 cases taken over breaches of the smoking ban. Of the 19 convictions, 11 concerned smoking in an outdoor smoking area that did not comply with regulations, five arose out of smokers being allowed to light up and three were brought against smokers themselves. The watchdog noted that last year was very significant for tobacco control in Ireland with the removal of point-of-sale advertising and display of tobacco products as well as the establishment of a national register of licensed tobacco retailers. Office of Tobacco Control chairperson Norma Cronin said such legislation kept Ireland at the forefront of global policy initiatives and would help to reduce the number of young people taking up smoking in the longer term. "Initial findings from research into the impact of removal of point-of-sale advertising suggest that the measure is already having a positive effect," she said. Source: Eilish O'Regan, The Irish Independent, 13/07/2010