Innovative ways need to be found to stop children smoking, Ireland's leading respiratory doctor said today.
Speaking at the unveiling of the Research Institute for a Tobacco Free Society (RIFTFS) in Dublin, Prof Luke Clancy said learning how to influence young people was crucial to reducing the number of children who take up smoking.
"We know very little about children and why they start smoking. We do know, however, that if you tell them to say no it's probably the worst thing you can do," Prof Clancy said.
Research into the reasons young people smoke would form part of the work done by the institute, added Prof Clancy, who is a director of the new institute which has been formed as a partnership involving the Office of Tobacco Control and the anti-smoking lobby group ASH.
RIFTFS will research a range of subjects including health effects, indoor air pollution, exposure assessment, marketing and economics.
The Minister for State at the Department of Health, Mr Sean Power, said the "groundbreaking" initiative of banning smoking in the workplace had gone some way to tackling the problems of smoking.
But he warned that more needed to be done to cut down on the 6,000 smoking-related deaths each year.
Mr Power noted that at 25 per cent, Ireland still has a relatively high proportion of smokers.
PA