The High Court has rejected a challenge by a retailers’ representative body to new annual licensing fees, including a €1,000 charge for shops selling tobacco products.
CSNA Company Limited by Guarantee, which said it represented about 1,350 members operating 1,500 stores, challenged regulations made by the Minister for Health under the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act 2023.
The regulations set annual application and renewal fees of €1,000 for tobacco licences, €800 for nicotine inhaling products and €1,800 for retailers selling both. They were due to come into operation on February 2, 2026.
CSNA argued, among other grounds, that the Minister could only set fees to cover the cost of administering the licensing system. It also claimed the figures were arbitrary and that the fees had been designed to discourage retailers from selling tobacco.
Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy first held that CSNA lacked legal standing because the fees would be paid by its members rather than by CSNA itself. The court found no exceptional reason why an affected retailer could not have brought the challenge directly.
The judge nevertheless considered the main legal arguments in case that conclusion was wrong. He found nothing in the 2023 Act limiting licence fees to the administrative cost of the scheme. By contrast, the previous tobacco registration law had expressly linked its €50 registration fee to the cost of maintaining the register.
The court also rejected the claim that the €1,000 fee was unsupported by evidence. A briefing provided to the Minister compared fees in other jurisdictions and with Irish alcohol licensing, and linked the proposed level to public-health objectives.
The judge said discouraging some retailers from selling tobacco was not the same as seeking to force shops to close. He found that setting fees with public health in mind was consistent with the purpose of the 2023 Act.
The relief sought by CSNA was therefore refused. The case was listed for January 16, 2026, for final orders.