Smoking stats

30 per cent of all cancers are linked to smoking

6,000-7,000 Irish people die of smoking-related diseases every year - more than six times the combined number of fatalities caused by road accidents, work accidents, drugs, murders, suicide and AIDS

31 per cent of adults smoke - up from 28 per cent in 1994 - an increase mainly accounted for by girls and women in the lower socio-economic classes

80 per cent of adult smokers begin before the age of 18

34 per cent of 15-17 age group smoke

Tobacco taxes were worth £721m to the exchequer in 1997, an increase of £300m in a decade

The Irish tobacco industry employs about 1,000