The offer made by Gallahers on 24 November 1999 to provide representatives of my Department with a presentation concerning the use of constituents in cigarettes has not been taken up by my Department. This was a time when the company had not yet supplied in a meaningful format the information requested from it on constituents in their tobacco products.
In a letter of 13 January to the director of the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers Advisory Committee, which represents Gallahers, Players and Carrolls, it was made clear to the industry that the Tobacco (Health Promotion and Protection) Act, 1988 requires each manufacturer to supply a list of ingredients in their products when so requested. Furthermore, it was pointed out that supplying information by broad categorisations of ingredients does not provide any meaningful information.
As far as I am concerned there was no misunderstanding on what information was being sought from the company on the constituents used in their tobacco products.
Gallahers submitted to my Department on 4 February the information on constituents in their tobacco products in the format originally sought from the company.