Proposed legislation to increase the legal age for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products from 18 to 21 is "significant", Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will seek Cabinet approval this week for the legislation to increase the legal age by three years.
The bill will be designed so that it does not affect those who are between the ages of 18 and 21 and who are currently legally entitled to be sold tobacco products.
The prohibition on the retail sale of tobacco products will not apply to this cohort for a "wash through" period.
Mr Martin said that while there has been progress in reducing the number of young people smoking over the past 20 years, this was an opportunity "to press home the possibilities of really eliminating smoking among younger generations into the future".
"The research is showing that raising the age to 21 matters in that respect," he added.
Mr Martin said that he believed there was public support for the legislation.
Speaking in Cork, the Tánaiste said there was to be more work on tacking the use of vapes.
"We have to act. It seems to me the same playbook is at play that the tobacco industry did in the 1950s, 1960s, getting young people addicted to cigarettes and created generations of disease.
"Potentially the same play book here with young people being incentivised by flavourings, positioning and presentation of the product and potentially long term hard, we have to intervene at this stage."
Mr Donnelly announced his intention to increase the legal age for buying tobacco products in March.
He said: "Really it's a measure aimed at people who are 15, 16, 17 years of age that with a smoking age at 18, they find it relatively easy to buy cigarettes...but that if you move to 21 it makes it much more difficult."
According to the 'Tobacco 21' report by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland Policy Group (RCPI), experimentation with smoking is highest among teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17.
It said raising the minimum legal age for the sale of tobacco products in Ireland would reduce the number of teenagers and young adults who become addicted to tobacco and could cut smoking rates by 25% among young teenagers.
Around 4,500 people die in Ireland each year from the effects of smoking, making it the single biggest contributor to early death, the RCPI said.
Thousands more suffer from smoking-related diseases, including heart and lung disease, and cancers, it added.
Director of Advocacy and Patient Support with the Irish Heart Foundation described the legislation as one of the most important healthcare measures in recent times.
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Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Chris Macey said: "We would regard this as one of the most important public health measures for years and really a crucial step to protect the next generation from the deadly effects of smoking.
"There's still 4,500 people dying every year as a direct result of smoking.
"As a nation and as a Government, we sort of lost our way in tobacco control for many years and this really changes the dial or will change the dial back in the right direction."
He said that the 'Tobacco 21' policy is the logical next step and "what we would like to see is for this to come in and be accompanied by a national debate on phasing out the legal age of sale of tobacco completely over time".
Mr Macey added that polls suggest that the public is very much in favour of the reform.
Vincent Jennings from the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association said he was concerned that peer pressure and the "attempt to de-normalise the product further" would lead to a restriction on those under 21 selling cigarettes and tobacco products.
"And they are a very substantial cohort of our members' staff, primarily college students and otherwise, who need the money to meet their needs," he said.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, he added that they did not want to stand in the way of the legislation, but they needed assurance from the State that "there will be specifically in this legislation there will be a permission for people who are 18,19, and 20 to continue to sell the product as they do with alcohol and all other age-restricted products".
A ban on the sale of tobacco and vape products from vending machines is also set to be enacted.
Further legislation is planned to ban disposable vapes, address issues around flavours of vapes and the bright colours of vape packaging.
Additional reporting Marc O'Driscoll
