The report calls for the minimum age to buy cigarettes or any tobacco products to be increased to 21.
(Source: Pixabay)Nearly six in ten smokers say they would be in favour of raising the minimum age to buy tobacco products.
That's one of the findings of a new report from the Royal College of Physicians, which has also found around 4,500 people die in Ireland every year from the effects of smoking.
It says current policies to tackle the habit are not going to allow the state to reach its target of reducing smoking to just 5 per cent by 2025.
Professor Des Cox from the RCPI thinks increasing the age from 18 to 21 would significantly help:
"Modelling data both from the UK and the US and projections suggest that if you were to introduce a measure like this you could decrease teenage smoking by 25 per cent and in the 18 to 20 year olds by 15 per cent."
CSO figures show the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes has increased from an average of €8.42 in 2010, to €13.44 last year.
The government added 50 cent to the price of cigarettes in last year's Budget.
However Dr. Garrett McGovern from the Priority Medical Clinic in Dundrum thinks raising the age is needed on top of this:
"We are trying to move towards a tobacco-free Ireland. We do need to get there [because] it's a fairly devastating habit."
The report adds that 71 per cent of over 15s would also support the move.
