Minister launches Autumn ‘Show Me I.D’ campaign for age-restricted sales compliance
So far in 2024, there have been 382 module completions of the Show Me ID module
Print15 October 2024
Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise with responsibility for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Dara Calleary TD, has launched the 2024 ‘Show Me I.D – Be Age OK’ Autumn Campaign at Casey’s Londis Ballina, showing his support for the country’s largest responsible retail training programme.
The launch of the campaign comes as the schools’ mid-term break draws near.
Retailers and hospitality staff across the country are encouraged to maintain high standards of compliance around age-restricted products.
These include alcohol, tobacco products, lottery tickets and vaping products.
Extra vigilance
The theme of the campaign – the third of four quarterly campaigns by Show Me ID – is the extra vigilance required around vaping products, in response to the ban of these products for minors in December 2023.
Failure to comply with the new legislation can result in fines of up to €4,000 or up to six months in prison.
Retailers are also being advised to prepare for the possibility of underage test purchasers being sent from the HSE to verify compliance with the new laws. This practice was added to the legislation in April of this year.
Retail and hospitality staff are encouraged to complete the ‘Show Me I.D – Be Age OK’ online training module, which quizzes users on potential situations they are likely to encounter in a trading environment.
This includes questions on what best practice is when somebody looks underage, when a minor attempts to purchase an age-restricted product or when an unacceptable form of identification is provided at the point of service.
Retail staff can easily access the module on a computer, phone or tablet.
So far in 2024, there have been 382 module completions of the Show Me ID module – already more than in all of 2023.
The competition has been launched and will be active until 6pm on Friday 15 November.
Training module
Any retail or hospitality staff member who completes the training module can enter a competition to win a €100 One4All gift card.
‘Show Me I.D’ will run a concentrated social media campaign while the competition is active, to keep retailers up to date with proper sales practices for age-restricted products.
“This is an inventive way of combining digital education with awareness of laws surrounding age-restricted products,” said Minister Calleary.
The ease with which it can be accessed by retail staff enhances its worth to the retail sector, at a time when following the laws around age-restricted products is more important than ever.
The Minister added: “The Government seeks to protect SMEs around the country and one way of doing that is to ensure that laws surrounding the sale of age-restricted products are followed.”
Show Me ID
Initiatives like Show Me ID are vital to this, and they show the extent to which digital education and innovation can help the Irish retail sector.
Casey’s Londis Group’s Gerry Casey (CEO) and David Tarrant (managing director) encouraged retail staff to take up the module.
They said “Casey’s Londis Group operates five stores across the country, and we understand that each one is a vital part of the community. As such, we have a responsibility to defend retail integrity and not sell age-restricted products to minors under any circumstances.”
For more information about the campaign and to access the free training module, please visit here.
Read more: Show Me ID training programme sees record uptake in 2024
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