Legal action by tobacco firms could be a smokescreen

THE Government was last night urged to hold firm in the face of a constitutional challenge to tough anti smoking legislation launched by nine tobacco and related companies.

Chairman of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Dr Fenton Howell said the tobacco companies' legal action could be a stalling mechanism to postpone the introduction of hard hitting provisions in the Public Health and Tobacco Act which was signed in to law last month.

The act provides for a ban on instore advertising or cigarette displays and on the sale of 10 packs.

The legislation also grants the Office for Tobacco Control strong powers to monitor and enforce the provisions of the act, many of which have not yet been brought into force.

The nine companies, which include Irish companies PJ Carroll, John Player and Gallaghers, are claiming that advertising ban criminalises not just the promotion of tobacco products but the provision of factual information on goods which are available in the State.

Their legal teams also take issue with the provision that tobacco products for sale must be kept in a closed container out of sight.

Senior Counsel for PJ Carroll, Dermot Gleeson, described the provisions as the most Draconian of any western country.

In total, up to 50 provisions of the legislation are under challenge. Mr Justice Peter Kelly has set out a timetable for the progress of the litigation but it will be several months before the case is ready for a full court hearing.

Dr Howell urged the Government to press ahead with implementing the provisions of the act and warned that the tobacco companies may be mounting the challenge in a bid to delay enforcement.

"We are not surprised that they are challenging it and it does tell us that for the first time we have decent legislation on the books and the industry is feeling threatened by it.

"The minister must hold firm because the act was passed unanimously in the Dáil and there is very broad based public support for it. We simply can't allow the tobacco companies to treat our citizens like marketing fodder," he said.

"The tobacco companies have an unending amount of money and they are prepared to go to court every time anything looks like threatening their sales. They have such financial muscle that they could try to tie the act up in the courts for a long time.

"ASH would be saying to the minister to move ahead and enforce the regulations which he has the power to. This case might never get to court and we should just move ahead and ignore the challenge," he said.

Minister Martin was not available to comment on the case yesterday.

However at the time when the bill was being drafted, he described it as: "The most comprehensive anti-tobacco legislation ever published in this country and confirms that the battle against tobacco is one of the most important public health challenges to be faced and is one of my main priorities as Minister for Health and Children."

7,000 a year die due to cigs

The Public Health and Tobacco Act provides for the establishment of the Office of Tobacco Control to monitor and enforce legislation.

Under the act, tobacco advertising and sponsorship by the tobacco industry are banned, as is the sale of 10-packs of cigarettes.

7,000 Irish people die each year of smoking-related illnesses.

Two out of three children experiment with cigarettes and one-quarter of them become regular smokers.