All tobacco advertising in Irish newspapers will be banned from June 2000. The Department of Health informed the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) of its decision to bring forward the date of the total ban.
The NNI previously had agreed with the Department that the ban would be phased in from next June, when tobacco advertising on the outside back pages of newspapers would be removed.
The decision by the Department to implement the total ban on that date has come as a surprise to the newspaper industry. Under an EU directive, tobacco advertising must cease by July 2001, or if an extension is granted, by July 2002. The NNI had hoped that the total ban would be phased in over that time.
An NNI spokesman said the group has been actively supportive of the EU directive banning tobacco advertising but has been urging the Department of Health to replace tobacco advertising with a public service health campaign. The Department has suggested that it is preparing a public health campaign concentrating on cardiovascular health which will run in the press and which will be in place before the total ban is implemented.
Newspaper revenue from tobacco advertising has been declining in recent years and is now in the region of £5 million, which, according to the NNI, corresponds to the 1988 levels. The cigarette companies meet the Department of Health annually to agree their advertising spend.
Earlier this month the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children indicated that restrictions on tobacco advertising would be part of its recommendations.
The Irish Times has not accepted tobacco advertising since 1992.
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