Oireachtas Health Committee calls on tobacco companies to testify

The Oireachtas Committee on Health has called on the three major tobacco companies here to appear before it in the autumn.

The development follows the publication of a damning report on smoking, which includes recommendations to hike the price of cigarettes by 50p a year, and urges the Government to sue tobacco firms to recoup healthcare costs.

It further calls for the creation of a second consumer price index without cigarettes included and that smoking in pubs and restaurants be banned outright.

During the six months of oral hearings which preceeded the report's publication, the three major tobacco companies in Ireland, PJ Carroll, Gallagher and John Player refused to appear before the Committee.