Ireland to ban sale of cigarettes in 10-packs

Ireland will ban the sale of cigarettes in packs of less than 20 from May 31 in a bid to discourage children from smoking, the government said on Friday. The preference by youngsters for 10-packs has been shown internationally to be linked to price, the health and children ministry said.

"I believe the removal of packs of 10 will be a clear disincentive to young people to start the habit and continue smoking," Sean Power, minister of state at the ministry, said.

The sale of confectioneries that resemble tobacco products will also be prohibited from the same date.

Ireland imposed the world's first nationwide ban on smoking in the workplace-including pubs and restaurants-in 2004. Unveiling his 2007 budget this week, the finance minister added 50 cents to the price of 20 cigarettes, bringing the cost of a pack to around 7 euros ($9.30).

10 Pack Cigarette Ban
In a bizarre attempt to discourage people from smoking the Irish government has decided to ban the sale of 10 packs of cigarettes from October.

In one of the most irrational in a long line of measures to reduce the prevalence of smoking the Irish Government is to ban the sale of cigarettes in packs of ten from a proposed date of October the 2nd. Instead of choosing to buy cigarettes in packs of ten smokers will now be forced to buy cigarettes in quantities of twenty. How this will help reduce smoking is not clear, but is another anti-smoker measure introduced by the government at the behest of ASH

ASH Chairman, Luke Clancy seems to believe that forcing people to buy more cigarettes than they would choose were they to have a choice will somehow help prevent people from smoking. Ignoring the fact it is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18 he says "the main incentive is to stop children from buying cigarettes before they become smokers."

The people most likely to suffer as a result of this measure will be those on low incomes and the elderly who make do with ten packs. Also people trying to reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke by only buying ten at a time will now be forced to purchase in quantities of twenty increasing the chances they will smoke more. However this seems to be of no matter to ASH and the anti smoking lobby who "welcomed" the measure delighted at yet another ban imposed on smokers by the government at their request.