A Dublin dad has taken a rather unusual step in a bid to get across the message to his 15-year-old son to stop smoking.

A single tobacco company employed 161 lobbyists and spent millions of euro in an “unprecedented” attempt to shoot down a key EU directive behind Ireland’s groundbreaking plain-packaging cigarette laws.

Children’s Minister James Reilly addressed the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Abu Dhabi on the battle for cigarette plain packaging legislation in Ireland and Europe

Ten leading health campaign groups representing doctors and people suffering from cancer, heart disease and other life-threatening conditions have written to Cabinet urging them not to scrap the plain packaging anti-smoking plans.