The Office of Tobacco Control (OTC) intervened last April after it found that one of the country's major cigarette companies was selling "twin packs" of 10 cigarettes without individual health, nicotine and tar level warnings.
While the OTC had already raised the issue with the company, Gallaher (Dublin) Ltd, it was also informed by a rival UK-based company, Philip Morris Ltd, about the existence of the product here.
Gallaher (Dublin) Ltd, continues to distribute the Gemini twin packs of 10 cigarettes under its Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut brands, this time with health warnings printed on them. This is despite the introduction of a ban on the sale of 10-packs of cigarettes here on May 31st. Targeted at reducing smoking among young people, the ban was meant to have come in last October.
The 10-cigarette "stay fresh" packets can only be purchased in denominations of 20 cigarettes.
According to correspondence seen by The Irish Times, a senior representative of Middlesex-based Philip Morris Ltd, whose brands include Marlboro, last April sought to bring to the attention of the OTC "what we believe to be an infringement" of EU tobacco regulations.
It noted that, while the outer Gemini box bore the health warning, the two "stay fresh" packets did not.
In response to a letter from the OTC to Gallaher (Dublin) Ltd last April, its managing director Paul Williams, argued that all of the required health warnings and the tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yields were contained on the "unit packet" of 20 cigarettes.
However, he subsequently acceded to a demand from the OTC's chief executive, Eamonn Rossi, to "forthwith cease" the production of the product. In June, he informed Mr Rossi that the company had processed the return of "over five million cigarettes in 10s".
Mr Rossi had warned of the "considerable risk" to children and others who might receive the packets. He also advised that action would be taken against the company and if necessary, the retailers of such products.