from Eoin Burke-Kennedy for the Irish Times:
Minister for Health James Reilly said he would be “astonished” if legislation proposing cigarettes be sold only in plain packs did not prompt legal action from the tobacco industry.
He was speaking today after the Cabinet unanimously approved the heads of a Bill which will force tobacco companies to sell cigarettes in standardised cartons with graphic health warnings.
The Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013 will outlaw all forms of branding on cigarette packs from trademarks and logos to colours and graphics.
The Bill, which will also determine the size and position of the warnings, will now be submitted for hearings by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children for review and report.
Chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Health Committee Jerry Buttimer (left) and Minister for Health James Reilly during a media breifing at Government Buildings where it was announced that Cabinet had approved the General Scheme for the Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013. (Irish Times/Gareth Chaney Collins)