Just 1% of businesses that flouted the smoking ban were convicted over the past decade, a new study has shown, writes Joe Rossiter.
Environmental health officers found over 23,800 breaches of tobacco laws between 2014 and 2023 but there were just 267 convictions, a rate of 1.12%.
Dr Frank Houghton, a social sciences lecturer at Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) who led the research, said: "There are thousands of cases each year, yet convictions are as rare as a blue moon.
"This lack of meaningful enforcement undermines the credibility of our public health legislation."
Ireland was a world leader when it banned smoking in workplaces in March 2004, which includes bars, restaurants, offices, taxis and company cars.
Breaking the law can result in a €3,000 fine on the spot.
Researchers used HSE data from over 150,000 inspections across ten years and found over 1,900 premises on average were in breach per year.
Of the fines handed out, 93% were €1,500 or less, and 85.5% of prosecution costs awarded were below that sum.
Over half of convictions meant businesses were suspended from the Tobacco Retail Register, the national list of all companies allowed to sell tobacco products.
But 56.9% of convictions only saw businesses suspended from the register for one day or less, while almost a third saw no suspension at all.
Businesses can be banned from the register for up to three months if they are found to be in breach of the law.
Around 80% of businesses complied with the law, but the study found that there had been no improvement in compliance over the last decade.
The researchers recommended introducing fixed penalty notices to deal with businesses who break the law and the reintroduction of minimum suspension periods from the Tobacco Retail Register.
Dr Houghton said: "Public health legislation is only effective if it's enforced.
"If we want to achieve a tobacco-free Ireland, we must ensure non-compliance has real consequences."
The data come at a time when Ireland is considering extending the national smoking ban.
There have been calls for the Government to ban smoking in some public areas, including from the Irish Heart Foundation.
It came after France banned smoking on beaches, in parks and bus shelters and near libraries and schools with a €135 fine for those caught breaking the law.
Mark Murphy, the Irish Heart Foundation's senior policy manager, said: "If we bring in these bans on smoking in public places, it really does denormalise the effect of smoking for the next generation, and that's what we need to think about.
"The right of children to breathe clean air trumps any other right."
Smoking rates among children have fallen from 19% in 2004, when the ban was introduced, to 5% last year.