The majority of shopkeepers in the west of Ireland are disregarding laws which prohibit the sale of cigarettes to people aged under 16, the results of a survey by the Western Health Board suggest.
Some 200 retail outlets in the Western Health Board area (Counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon) were the targets of a "sting" operation in recent months when youngsters, the eldest of whom was 14, made purchases in premises that sell tobacco products.
The survey, carried out by environmental health officers, shows that Co Roscommon has the worst compliance rate with 93 per cent, or 26 out of the 28 shops, willing to sell cigarettes to underage persons. Mayo fared second worst in the survey with 39 out of 64 shops (61 per cent) selling cigarettes to the teenagers.
Co Galway had the best compliance rate. Of the 108 shops tested there, only 36 (33 per cent of the total) breached the regulations. Of the 200 premises surveyed, 101 (51 per cent) failed to comply with the legislation.
Mr Paul Hickey, senior environmental health officer with the Western Health Board yesterday described the figures for Co Roscommon as "very worrying" but said the fact that there had been no prosecutions in the county against shopkeepers for breaches of the legislation could be a factor.
In a number of cases throughout the health board area, when the child was asked their age and replied truthfully, they were still supplied with cigarettes.
Mr Hickey said clear and constant warnings about the illegality of selling tobacco products to under-age persons, and the serious legal consequences which resulted from having done so, had been made to retailers.
All retailers who breached the law have been informed by the health board that legal action will be taken should a second test purchase prove successful. "Prosecution is only as a last resort," said Mr Hickey, who co-ordinated the survey.
In Galway city and county, where the survey found greatest compliance with the law, there have been a number of prosecutions recently. In Ballina, Co Mayo, where there have also been recent prosecutions, less than 10 per cent of shops surveyed were willing to sell cigarettes to underage persons.
Mr Hickey said: "Cigarette smoking is now probably one of the biggest influences on the health of young people . . . We are losing the war at the moment, particularly in relation to young females, and need to counteract this."