Mayor of Limerick launches ‘Show Me I.D - Be Age OK’ winter campaign in Limerick city
It encourages enhanced vigilance from retail and hospitality sector in selling age-restricted products
MAYOR of Limerick John Moran has launched the ‘Show Me I.D - Be Age OK’ winter campaign, showing his support for the country’s largest responsible retail and hospitality training programme.
The launch of the campaign comes as the schools break up for Christmas and hospitality is right in the middle of its busiest time of year. 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.
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 459 module completions of the Show Me ID module.
Any retail or hospitality staff member who completes the training module can enter a competition to win a €100 One4All gift card. The competition will be active until 6pm on Friday, January 17. ‘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 last Wednesday, the Mayor said: "I am delighted to launch the Show Me ID Winter campaign here in Limerick. It is very welcome to see industry take the lead in raising awareness and ensuring better protection of vulnerable under age customers. This is an inventive way of combining digital education with awareness of laws surrounding age-restricted products. The ease with which it can be accessed by retail staff is key for the busy retail sector, at a time when following the laws around age-restricted products is more important than ever."
The Mayor added: "This is a very busy time of year for the hospitality sector both in Limerick and nationwide. Therefore, it is essential that all hospitality and retail staff are fully aware of the laws surrounding the sale of age-restricted products to ensure that they 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."
Jack Costello, Manager at the Locke Bar, encouraged staff to take up the module.
He said: "I understand that we, as a well-known pub in Limerick, form a vital part of our community. As such, we have a responsibility to defend hospitality integrity and not sell alcohol to minors under any circumstances."
He continued: "We make it clear to our staff that they must always ask for ID if they are unsure about serving anyone. We are delighted, therefore, that Show Me ID provides easily accessible online training for them. We encourage all publicans nationwide to encourage staff to take the training module. We highly recommend that all retail and hospitality staff in Ireland take this module to fully educate themselves on responsible sale, especially at such a busy time for the sector."
This Christmas, the hospitality sector is especially advised to be vigilant. The Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI) is a strong supporter of the Show Me ID campaign. The summer 2023 campaign, for example, was launched by then-VFI President John Clendennen, who was recently elected as a Fine Gael TD for Offaly in last month's general election.
For more information about the campaign and to access the free training module, please visit the Show Me ID website here.