Irish PM criticised over tobacco meeting

The Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, has been criticised for holding a meeting with representatives of the tobacco industry, according to a story in The Journal.ie.

The meeting, which was said also to have involved two senior ministers, Alan Shatter and Michael Noonan, was held a fortnight ago but has only recently come to public attention.

The criticism, which seems to have been led by Senator John Crown and MEP Nessa Childers, is aimed at the meeting itself and the fact that it was not made public.

The lack of immediate transparency would seem to have gone against the spirit of the much-invoked Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

On the other hand, it seems unsurprising that such a meeting took place given that Ireland currently has the presidency of the EU and given that discussions are taking place in response to the EU Commission’s proposed revisions to the Tobacco Products Directive.