It’s the government vs. tobaccoland, but who will win?
The Irish government has made moves to ban all 6000 vending machines that sell cigarettes in Ireland and the tobacco industry is stomping its feet.
The Irish Cigarette Machine Operators Association (ICMOA) has over 60 business members, employs 145 people and is worth over €175 Million to the Irish economy.
The ICMOA is warning that the job loss and financial loss they would incur, should the government continue with their plans to ban cigarette machines, will not be taken without a legal battle.
Speaking to RTE.ie, Professor Luke Clancy, Director General of the Reseach Institute for a Tabacco Free Ireland, said: “We’re not talking about some sort of harmless product, we’re talking about something that kills, in this country, nearly 5,000 people a year, and we hear that there may be 20 jobs lost. This is really out of proportion. This is something that shouldn’t be there – it has to go”
The Department of Health has said it will follow the 15 other European states that have banned the machines on the basis that their presence is an advertisement for smoking.
This legislation is another step towards the government’s goal of a tobacco free Ireland by 2025.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland the director of Tobaccoland, Ireland’s largest supplier of the machines, said. “we will bring this to the Supreme Court.”
What do you think?
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