There are many dimensions to the economics and marketing of tobacco in Ireland, but the sheer size of the industry and the amount spent on this item are a good start. Each year around six billion cigarettes are smoked in the Republic of Ireland as well as 322 thousand kilos of tobacco products In total, consumers spent roughly €l,869 million on tobacco produces in the year 2000, almost 4 per cent of all personal expenditure.

Though estimates of both the number of regular smokers and the amount that they .smoke is not very precise, the percentage of regular smokers (more than one cigarette per day) in the adult population is somewhere between 28 and 30 per cent, each one consuming an average of 21 cigarettes.