Sue tobacco firms over €1bn health costs to State, says MEP

The Government should consider taking a legal case against big tobacco companies for the health costs their industry is knowingly causing the State.

Ireland East MEP Nessa Childers made the call on World No Tobacco Day yesterday and following a study which showed that Irish smokers took up the habit at a younger age than their EU counterparts.

Ms Childers hit out at tobacco companies, which she said were still “deliberately targeting teenagers”. She urged the Government to follow the example of many US states in the 1990s by taking legal action against the industry.