Tobacco Free Ireland, the report of the Tobacco Policy Review Group, was endorsed by Government, and published in October 2013. It builds on existing tobacco control policies and legislation already in place in this country, and sets a target for Ireland to be tobacco free (i.e. with a smoking prevalence rate of less than 5%) by 2025. Tobacco Free Ireland was the first policy document to be launched under the Healthy Ireland framework and will play a major part in achieving the vision set out in Healthy Ireland.

The two key themes underpinning Tobacco Free Ireland are the protection of children and the denormalisation of smoking. Progress in implementing the Action Plan for Tobacco Free Ireland for 2014, 2015 and 2016 is outlined in the report.

Considerable progress has been made and the action plan is being implemented as published. Whilst there is substantial detail in the updates provided, some of the key achievements in 2016 were:

• the continued development of legislation to provide for standardised packaging of tobacco products,
• the transposition of the Tobacco Products Directive , continued engagement with the HSE and the European Commission in relation to the implementation of the Directive,
• the continuation of an annual Healthy Ireland Survey and the Health Behaviour in School Children Study which will give up-to-date reliable data on the prevalence of smoking throughout the whole population,
• the publication of the economic cost of smoking in Ireland report,
• the development by the HSE of the QUIT campaign and the enhancement of supports for smokers who wish to stop smoking,
• the engagement of Healthy Ireland with changing social norms around smoking,
• the proactive involvement of the NGO sector in supporting Tobacco Free Ireland actions, and
• the increase in price of tobacco products in Budget 2017.