‘It is with a strong sense of responsibility and urgency that I introduce the Public Health (Restriction on Sale of Stimulant Drinks to Children) Bill 2025’
Those were the words of an Irish Senator introducing the Bill into Seanad Éireann (the Upper House of the Irish Parliament) in May 2025.
The inherent dangers associated with these drinks are well-documented. There have been reported incidents of cardiac arrest following over consumption, and reports have shown that these drinks may lead to a higher likelihood of palpitations and irregular heartbeats.
Having regard to these health concerns, some Irish retailers have restricted the sale of these drinks to over people over 16 years of age.
There has been a delay in the progression of the Bill while the government undertakes an evidence evaluation of the most appropriate ways of achieving the aim of the proposed legislation.
Further developments are expected during 2026, with the possibility of the new law coming into force later this year or in early 2027.
On the reasonable assumption that there will be some legislation in the coming months, what does the current Bill say?
Clause 1 of the Bill defines ‘stimulant drink’ as:
(a) a non-alcoholic beverage for human consumption containing caffeine (other than tea, coffee and cognate beverages) in a proportion in excess of 80 milligrams per litre, and in addition to caffeine contains one or more of the following substances which may stimulate the central nervous system:
(i) guarana/guaranine;
(ii) ginseng/ginsenosides;
(iii) ginkgo biloba;
(iv) taurine;
(v) glucuronolactone, and
(b) in any other case a non-alcoholic beverage for human consumption containing caffeine (other than tea, coffee and cognate beverages) in a proportion in excess of 150 milligrams per litre.
To try and cover as many products as possible, the definition continues by referring to products in any form including:
(i) as a ready-to-drink beverage,
(ii) as a beverage ready-to-drink after dilution,
(iii) as frozen ice cream, ice lollipops, water ices, frozen yoghurts and similar frozen products, and
(iv) irrespective of any recommended consumable liquid to be added, includes effervescent tablets and mixes and powders for making any of those products.
The purpose of the Bill as set out in Clause 3 is to restrict:
(a) the sale of stimulant drinks to persons who have not attained the age of 18 years,
(b) the advertisement or promotion of the use stimulant drinks to or by such persons, and
(c) the sale of stimulant drinks to the public that do not contain warnings on the product labelling informing the public of the effect to a person’s health of the excessive consumption or use of stimulant drink products.
A parent or guardian may give a person under 18 a stimulant drink if that person is within the care and custody of that parent or guardian.
This is of course a reasonable and necessary measure, but it highlights a general point concerning harmful foods and beverages. Laws may ban or restrict, but educating consumers about the risks is equally important.
The main provisions of the Bill are:
- A prohibition on selling a stimulant drink to a person under 18 (Clause 4)
- That ban includes self-service checkouts unless the retailer has a system in place for verifying the age of the prospective purchaser (Clause 5). That is a generally accepted requirement for the self-service sale of any age-restricted product.
- A ban on advertising a stimulant drink primarily targeted or directed at persons under 18. This includes at or within 100 metres of places where under 18s may be present such as schools, and facilities that cater for such persons including youth clubs and sports centres (Clause 6)
- The packaging of a stimulant drink must contain a warning about the adverse health effects of excessive consumption (Clause 8) and similar warnings will be required at point of sale (Clause 9). The precise wording and form of the warning will be prescribed in the secondary legislation, but it is reasonable to expect that this will need to be displayed very prominently
The legislation will be enforced by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and authorised officers will have wide-ranging powers (Clause 11).
A specific power enables authorised officers to engage in test purchase exercises in which a volunteer who is aged between 15 and 18 goes into retail premises to try and buy the restricted product. Guidelines will be prepared to regulate these exercises. Test purchase is widely used in Ireland for products such as tobacco and vapes and an illegal sale often results in prosecution.
It is common for the HSE to send mailshots to retailers to remind them of their legal requirements regarding age-restricted products and to warn them that test purchase exercises are used by the HSE to monitor compliance.
Regarding non-compliance, the Bill provides for fixed penalty notices (Clause 13) and criminal convictions may result in a fine and/or imprisonment (the levels of which increase for second or subsequent offences) (Clause 15), and the payment of the prosecution’s costs.
By way of comparison, there are proposals to introduce a similar prohibition in England, although this will be to children under 16 years of age.
Having fully considered all the available evidence and options to achieve the policy objective, it will be interesting to see whether the Irish authorities keep the 18-age limit or reduce it to align with the English proposals.