A spot-check operation by the Southern Health Board (SHB) in Cos Kerry and Cork in recent months has found that more than a sixth of the outlets targeted sold cigarettes to young people under the legal age of 18.
Some 10 sales, almost half of the total, took place in outlets which had previously been warned by the health board about selling a tobacco product to an under-aged person. These are now facing prosecution by the health board.
Mr Declan Hamilton, principal environmental health officer with the SHB, warned yesterday that a "zero tolerance" approach was being put in place. There would be no more second chances for outlets, and prosecution would be taken after a first sale to a young person in future.
Proprietors are being urged by the board to look on cigarettes on a par with alcohol when it comes to asking for age identification.
The operation by the environmental health department of the SHB to check tobacco compliance involved sending young persons under 18 into retail outlets where vending machines were located.
The young people, under the instructions of an environmental health officer, were aged 15 and 16 and were to tell their correct age if challenged by the vendor.
Some 136 test purchases were carried out, and in 23 of these outlets the young people were sold cigarettes.
Ten of the 23 were repeat offenders despite having been warned previously that a prosecution would be initiated if a further sale to an under-age person took place.
The fine for an offence has been raised since August 2001 to €2,540, while the age limit was also raised from 16 to 18, Mr Hamilton said.
"The most important thing is if a premises is prosecuted, there is a certain stigma attached," he added.
The overall percentage of sales to the under-aged had more than halved since a previous check by the health board in 2001. Then the number of sales stood at 39 per cent, while this year it was almost 17 per cent.
Teenagers taken on by shops for summer jobs were not properly trained in asking for age identification, and this accounted for much of the problem, it was said.