Minister Catherine Byrne has welcomed the news that tobacco products bearing the new standardised packaging are now available in some Irish retail outlets.

From September 2018 all cigarettes and all other tobacco products will have to be sold in plain or standardised packaging in accordance with the Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Act 2015.

However, products using the new plain packaging can now be found in some outlets. Gone are the familiar colours and logos of the various brands and instead all cigarette boxes will be in the same plain neutral colour, bringing into sharp focus the health warnings on the packets.

Minister Byrne said “Our aim is to decrease the appeal of tobacco products, to increase the effectiveness of health warnings and to reduce the chances of consumers being misled about the harmful effects of smoking. This packaging makes it plain that cigarettes are bad for your health.”

Standardised packaging is just one of a number of measures outlined in Tobacco Free Ireland, the ultimate aim of which is to encourage and help smokers to quit and to prevent young people from starting to smoke