Ms Claire Gordon:

The Deputy is completely correct. There is evidence that the density of retailers only impacts on the initiation of children. In other words, the more shops that sell cigarettes around me, the more likely I am to start smoking. The other unfortunate consequence is that the more outlets there are around me, the more likely I am to fail in my attempts to quit. Essentially, I am being presented with it all of the time so it is really difficult. As the previous speaker was saying, every time one sees it, the urge comes back.

With the current registration system, we know that at a certain point somebody registered to sell cigarettes but we do not know what happened after that. Under the current system, one registers once, one pays a one-off fee and one has no obligation to communicate with the HSE from then on. When our new licensing system comes in, one will get a licence for a year, which then will have to be renewed. For the first time, we will know exactly who is selling cigarettes and e-cigarettes, and where. We will have proper data on where the outlets are. At that stage, and I am not saying that this is a proposal from us, we will at least understand the density of retailers. There is evidence that the density of retailers has an impact on consumption. That is something that might be looked at in the future. For now, we need to know who and where. There is no system for the retailing of e-cigarettes or nicotine inhaling products under the current system but there is a registration system for tobacco products. That was a one-off fee and one registered once. Essentially, we do not know whether some of the people who registered are still selling.