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Daily Poll

Poll: Should the legal smoking age be increased to 21?

YESTERDAY MARKED WORLD No Tobacco Day, prompting fresh calls for the Irish government to reassess laws around access to cigarettes.

Tobacco 21 Ireland Alliance – a group which counts the Irish Heart Foundation, the Royal College of Physicians Ireland, and the Irish Cancer Prevention Network among its members – highlighted its campaign to increase Ireland’s legal smoking age to 21.

Currently, anyone over the age of 18 can legally buy tobacco products in Ireland.

Dr Emmet O’Brien of Tobacco 21 Ireland has said “Tobacco 21 has overwhelming public backing, as demonstrated in an Ipsos MRBI poll for the Irish Heart Foundation showing it is supported by 73% of Irish adults and 70% in the 18-24 age bracket.”

Dr O’Brien added that Tobacco 21 legislation introduced in various US states, before it became federal law in 2019, had reduced smoking in the under-21 age group by 33.9%.

Today we want to know… Should Ireland increase the legal smoking age to 21?

The legal smoking age should be increased to 21
Legal smoking age should remain 18
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Friday 2 June

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