HEALTH MINISTER STEPHEN Donnelly has today commenced sections of the law to ban the sale of tobacco and vaping products by self-service, which will come into effect in September 2025. 

The current law on the sale of tobacco products through vending machines requires the use of discs or cards provided by staff, and for staff to be present overnight, but now the practice will be totally outlawed. 

Evidence from the National Environmental Health Service – the authority for the tobacco control law – shows that self-service vending machines that sell these products are more accessible to minors than over the counter sales. 

Donnelly noted that this decision has been made on World No Tobacco Day. 

“We are continuing to denormalise the sale of tobacco products to make it clear that a product that kills one out of every two of its users is not like other consumer products. We are also banning the sale of nicotine inhaling products by self-service to further tighten the availability and the advertising of these products,” the Minister further said. 

Minister of State over Public Health and the National Drugs Strategy, Colm Burke, said that there is evidence that the density of retail outlets selling tobacco products is associated with young people smoking, and that it presents a risk factor for relapse by smokers who have quit. 

“Reducing that density is an important step to protect our young people and to assist those who have made the important decision to quit,” Burke said.