National ‘Show Me I.D – Be Age OK’ campaign encourages enhanced vigilance from retail sector
National ‘Show Me I.D – Be Age OK’ campaign encourages enhanced vigilance from retail sector in response to new legislation on age-restricted products
Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development Jerry Buttimer has launched the 2025 ‘Show Me I.D – Be Age OK’ National Campaign at O’Riordan’s Centra in Cork City, showing his support for the country’s largest responsible retail and hospitality training programme.
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.
The ‘Show Me I.D – Be Age OK’ online training module 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.
In 2024, there were 537 module completions of the Show Me ID module. Musgrave’s led the way with 188 of these completions.
To open this year’s campaign, ‘Show Me ID’ is calling on retailers to play their part in preventing underage drinking, smoking and vaping in their communities by always asking for ID if unsure and refusing a sale if they have any doubts over legal age.
The competition has been launched and will be active until 6pm on Friday 25 April. 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.
Speaking at the launch today, Minister Buttimer said ‘I am delighted to launch the Show Me ID National campaign here in Cork. This training is vitally important for retail staff all around Ireland to help them understand their responsibilities to young people in their community. We must all do our bit to prevent underage drinking, smoking and vaping in our communities, and this training provides a helpful and interactive way of understanding this.’
The Minister added, ‘Government has acted on the sale of age-restricted products in recent years. It is essential that all hospitality and retail staff are aware laws surrounding the sale of age-restricted products are followed. Initiatives like Show Me ID are vital to this, and the buy-in of the sector as a whole is really encouraging to witness.’
Liam O’Riordan, owner of O’Riordan’s Centra, said ‘It was a great privilege to have the Minister here to launch Show Me ID’s National Campaign. We constantly make it clear to all our staff that they must always ask for ID if they have even the slightest doubts about someone’s age’.
He continued ‘I and other Centra stores around the country take great enjoyment out of participating in Show Me ID, and we would encourage all retail staff around the country to educate themselves on proper retail standards and give themselves a chance at winning a €100 One4All voucher in the process.’
For more information about the campaign and to access the free training module, please visit the Show Me ID website: www.showmeid.ie
