Irish TDs are calling for an increase in the legal age to buy cigarettes as the number of people taking up the daily habit increases.
One Fine Gael TD today said the utmost importance should be put on preventing harm from smoking over issues around civil liberties.
Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Cork North-Central TD Colm Burke, said the age for the sale of cigarettes should be increased to 21 as statistics continue to move in the wrong direction.
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He said in the past “we made major inroads in reducing the number of people who were smoking” however after the pandemic, those reduced figures are beginning to creep up again.
"We've had a slight increase in the number of people smoking,” he said. “We're gone up from 17% up to 18% in the last two to three years.
"I think we need to make further progress on this - the target was 2025 that we were to have the number of people smoking down to 5%.
"That now looks like we're not going to achieve it."
According to the latest statistics, "we're now in a situation where 16% of boys are smokers, 13.6% of girls.
"The study shows in the US when you introduced it [legal age], it would drop down from 13% to 7%".
Deputy Burke said the majority of people support a move to increase the legal age for sale of cigarettes as more than 1,000 people are in hospital beds today as a result of being smokers.
"There was a survey done by Ipsos, which shows that 73% of adults support it, and 69% of the age group between 15 and 24 support it, he explained.
"As we speak this morning, there are 1,000 people in hospital beds who are there directly as a result of being smokers.
"That's how serious the issue is".
The idea was suggested last year by the Irish Heart Foundation which said increasing the age of sale to 21 could result in 34% less people smoking.
It said the latest data shows an increase in teenage smoking which only cements the case for a tobacco sale ban for under-21s.
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