Opposition parties have reacted angrily to newspaper reports that the Government has invested €17 million of the National Pensions Reserve Fund in tobacco companies.
The report in today's Examinerprompted the Fine Gael Health spokesperson Ms Olivia Mitchell to call for tighter investment guidelines for the Fund to be introduced by the Government.
And the chairman of Ash Ireland Dr Luke Clancy said it was not appropriate for the Government to be holding shares in cigarette-manufacturing companies.
Under legislation the National Pensions Reserve Fund is directed to invest in any companies what will provide a good return for the Government.
More than €8 billion has been invested by the fund and among the basket of shares are pharmaceutical, petrochemical and armaments shares.
According to the Fund's annual report the Government has shares in three companies British American Tobacco, Philip Morris and Imperial Tobacco Group.
