The Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children is seeking legal advice on how to proceed against tobacco companies which have refused to co-operate by withholding documents.
The committee may seek powers to compel the industry to divulge information and for its representatives to answer questions.
The committee requested some companies to furnish information and documents but at a recent private meeting of the committee, deputies and senators were told of the companies which confirmed they would not be co-operating. The chairman of the committee, Mr Batt O'Keeffe (FF), ail TD said: "We're now considering our response and have written to a senior counsel seeking legal advice on the matter."
He said the committee had an agreement that it could obtain powers to compel. Members had not sought them yet as they had written to the companies seeking information on a voluntary basis.
"Depending on the legal advice, if we want these powers then we have to put a formal motion before the Dail," he said.
If the powers were used it would allow the committee to compel manufacturers and suppliers of cigarettes to disclose all documents relevant to public health and tobacco policy issues. The companies cited a number of reasons for their refusal to release the information.
The first was based on the committee's recommendation last year that the Government and the health agencies should consider taking a legal case against the tobacco companies for the cost of treating smoking-related illnesses.
The companies expressed concern that if they released their documents to the committee, they could be used in legal cases against them.
Secondly, the companies were unhappy some members had spoken out in the Dail and Seanad encouraging the Government to take legal action; and, thirdly, they cited over 140 individual claims against them were going through the courts.
In the circumstances, the companies submitted they should not co-operate with the committee's request. Mr O'Keeffe said they had made it clear to the industry that the information would not be used to facilitate a legal case against them.