The Cabinet has approved the introduction of "plain pack" cigarettes here.

Ireland will become the second country in the world to introduce the measure after Australia did so last year. Health Minister James Reilly says the new packs will save lives.

The packs, regardless of brand, will have to be a uniform colour, carry the brand name in uniform lettering and have no logos or trademarks.

All packs will still carry graphic pictures of the health impacts of smoking. The plain packets will come into force in 2014.

Criticism of the plans

However campaigners have already criticised the announcement.

John Mallon, spokesman for the smokers' group Forest Eireann, said "There is no evidence that plain packaging will reduce youth smoking rates. Worse, standardised packaging could be counter-productive, making it easier for criminal gangs to counterfeit packets of cigarettes and sell them on the black market".

"This is gesture politics designed to distract attention from more pressing issues such as the state of the HSE, and ongoing austerity" he added.

Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Holohan, Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald & Minister for Health James Reilly 

While the National Federation of Retail Newsagents Ireland has also hit out at the move. President Joe Sweeney said "It is plain to see that the only people who will benefit from the Minister's announcement today will be smugglers and criminals".

"I support the government in its efforts to curtail the use of tobacco and alcohol. In doing this though, it must seek to find a balance between regulating harmful but legal, taxed behaviour and driving consumers into the black market to buy illicit products from criminals and subversives whose activities pose an even greater threat to society" he added.

But head of advocacy at the Irish Cancer Society Kathleen O'Meara is welcoming the move.