Illegal sales of cigarettes to children in North-East Dublin.

This study was carried out in certain areas of north-east Dublin in an attempt to find out the percentage of retail outlets selling cigarettes to children, and to discover how many were displaying notices indicating that cigarettes would not be sold to children. All retail outlets in the area were identified and visited by one of five 12-year-old boys who tried to buy cigarettes. The researchers found that the boys were immediately successful in 109 of the 134 retail outlets visited. They were challenged on only 29 occasions, and in four of these cases the cigarettes were successfully purchased in the end. Warning notices were only displayed in eight outlets. The conclusion was drawn that children can easily buy cigarettes in north-east Dublin. The authors also pointed out that no prosecutions had ever been taken in north-east Dublin for illegal sales of cigarettes to children, and recommended that the law be vigorously implemented as part of the overall strategy to combat smoking among children.