Why Ireland and Europe matter
Is there a more anti-smoking country in Europe than Ireland?
We're about to find out.
The Irish government will shortly deliver its long-awaited tobacco review. This is like a White Paper. It's the start of a process that can take two or three years and often ends with legislation and a raft of new laws.
We have no idea what will be in the review but we suspect it may include proposals to ban smoking in cars (with or without children), prohibit smoking in parks and beaches, introduce plain packaging and so on.
Unfortunately people in Britain tend to ignore developments in Dublin. Well, Ireland matters.
Ten years ago Forest wanted to set up a group in Ireland. We could see what was coming down the line (a ban on smoking in pubs and bars) and we wanted to help organise some opposition.
It's difficult to fight on more than one front and in 2002 our immediate priority was London where Ken Livingstone was threatening to follow New York's example and introduce a unilateral smoking ban.
So we focussed on London and did quite a good job of helping to see off that particular threat.
Ireland however was neglected and we know what happened next. Legislation was passed virtually unopposed, Scotland's first minister Jack McConnell then picked up the baton (using the "success" of the Irish ban as a barometer), and that led to smoking bans in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Forest Eireann was finally set up two years ago and made a promising start in terms of media coverage. Stage two of the campaign will start when the Irish government publishes its tobacco review and it promises to be a long, hard battle.
Health minister James Reilly is described as "vehemently anti-smoking". I understand that he is also one of the least popular ministers in Ireland, which is saying something in a country where voters seem to regard all politicians with contempt.
Micheál Martin, the current leader of Fianna Fáil, the main Opposition party, was the under fire health minister when the smoking ban was introduced in Ireland. Arguably, it saved his career.
The danger is that Reilly may see the war on tobacco as an opportunity to flex his muscles too, although most people laughed when he suggested earlier this year that smoking should be banned on beaches.
There is another scenario and it's this: both the British and Irish governments will postpone further tobacco control measures until the European Commission has published its own Tobacco Products Directive.
We were expecting an announcement very soon but there's been a little local difficulty in Brussels. You may have read about it.
As luck would have it (I'm being ironic, in case you're wondering), the next country to hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union is – Ireland.
So there we have it. Half a million people in Britain expressed opposition to plain packaging in a 'public' consultation but that may count for nothing if unelected bureaucrats and prohibitionist politicians in Dublin and Brussels get their way.
Judge for yourself the suitability of James Reilly to oversee an impartial review of tobacco policy in Ireland.
The Sunday Times Ireland last week revealed that Andrew Meagher, managing director of John Player, the country's second-largest tobacco company, had written to Reilly last October following a speech in which the health minister said that the tobacco industry was "profoundly evil".
In his letter Meagher said:
"I have never met you and, to my knowledge, neither have any of my employees. However, according to you, the tobacco industry is 'profoundly evil' as well as 'relentless and insidious'. By association, then, are the 70 people working in John Player 'profoundly evil', 'relentless and insidious'?"
Meagher, said the Sunday Times, was particularly incensed by Reilly's claim that the tobacco industry deliberately targets children.
"As the father of three young children I would not work for a tobacco company that targeted children ... We are a legitimate business that sells legal product to adult consumers who choose to smoke."
As for the Dalli scandal, consider this statement, issued on October 17, by the Labour MEP for Ireland East:
Nessa Childers MEP today expressed serious concerns over the resignation of Health Commissioner John Dalli.
"I seriously regret that Commissioner Dalli had to, or was forced to, resign on this matter after a complaint by a tobacco firm. He has been a champion for stronger tobacco control in the Commission and was preparing the upcoming directive in this area.
"There are three clear priorities now, to find out exactly what happened, to make sure the tobacco directive goes ahead without any delay and that once and for all lobbying in Brussels is put under the spotlight and regulated better.
"One thing is sure that the tobacco industry is the main winner with the fall of Commissioner Dalli. I hope that this will not lead to precisely what Big Tobacco wants, the further blocking and delaying of a strong Tobacco Product Directive. The Commission must not delay the adoption of the directive, which has been delayed for far too long by industry lobbying."
See also John Dalli row: EU's Barroso denies ousting colleague (BBC News) and EU urged to press ahead with tobacco crackdown amid lobbying scandal (Guardian).
More important, perhaps, is this tweet by Bruno Waterfield, Brussels correspondent for the Daily Telegraph:
