Hiqa to review tobacco affordability as Irish smoking rates stall

Дата публикации: 12-08-2026 10:02:21

Smoking prevalence has remained at 17 or 18 per cent since 2019 despite increases in tobacco taxes

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The health and safety watchdog is to review the affordability of tobacco amid concerns about a stagnation of smoking rates in the State.

A recent report by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland found smoking prevalence in Ireland in those aged 15 years or older has shown little change in recent years, remaining at 17 or 18 per cent across the 2019 to 2025 period.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) considers tobacco taxation that exceeds both inflation and income growth as one of the most effective measures in tobacco control.

Alongside other policies such as public health warnings about the dangers of smoking and advertising bans, higher tobacco taxes help to discourage smoking uptake and encourage quitting, it says.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) said it has begun an analysis of tobacco affordability at the request of the chief medical officer.

It noted taxation had added 24 per cent to the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes since 2020, but the average weekly earning increased by 28 per cent in the same period.

In its analysis, Hiqa will look at how the affordability of tobacco is measured, how affordable tobacco is in Ireland compared with other EU countries and the UK, and whether alternative measures should be used to assess affordability.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita is widely used internationally to analyse affordability. However, the use of GDP in affordability analyses may not always be reflective of actual household purchasing power in Ireland, it noted.

A report summarising the findings of the analysis will be finalised and submitted to inform decision-making by the chief medical officer and the Department of Health.

Hiqa’s deputy director of health technology assessment, Michelle O’Neill, said as affordability decreases, “smoking initiation and tobacco consumption decline and quit attempts increase.”

“In our analysis, we will consider how Ireland compares to other countries in terms of tobacco affordability, and we will consider different affordability indicators such as household disposable income, wage growth, and household expenditure in addition to GDP to get a fuller picture of how affordable tobacco is for the average Irish household.”

[ Sale of vapes and cigarettes to young people could be bannedOpens in new window ]

Ireland aims to drive smoking prevalence below 5 per cent through the country’s national policy, Tobacco Free Ireland.

The Government has taken a number of steps in recent years to reduce smoking rates further, including raising the legal purchase age to 21, banning disposable vapes and bright flavour descriptors and restricting self-service vending machines.

The Government is also considering a ban on the sale of tobacco and nicotine-inhaling products to anyone born after a certain date, following the introduction of similar legislation in the UK.

[ Should Ireland copy the UK’s generational ban on smoking?Opens in new window ]

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