An Oireachtas Committee on smoking has again called on three tobacco companies to appear before it.
The sub-committee on Health and Smoking, which has met on nine occasions, has issued an invitation to John Player & Sons Ltd., PJ Carroll & Company Ltd., and Gallagher (Dublin) Ltd. Other invitations were previously turned down by the companies.
The invitation comes on the day when an interim report on Health and Smoking was published by the committee, which recommended that smoking in public houses be banned and that cigarettes be taxed at 50p for every year of the lifetime of a Parliament.
The sub-committee heard that tobacco kills almost 7,000 people in Ireland each year. Thirty-three per cent of boys between 15 and 17 smoke and 80 per cent of all smokers become addicted between the ages of 14 and 16.
The number of deaths from lung cancer has more than doubled in 20 years and smoking is the primary cause of lung cancer and chronic bronchitis/emphysema.
The recommendation to ban smoking in pubs is based on evidence that passive smoking is a major health hazard and the number one pollutant in Ireland.
Other recommendations include the creation of a National Lung Cancer Strategy, the banning of cigarette vending machines and at least £20 million a year should be spent on anti-smoking strategies.