ALL TOBACCO ADS IN IRISH PAPERS TO BE BANNED

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.

According to a spokesman for the NNI, 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 steadily in
recent years and is now in the region of pounds 5 million, which, according
to the NNI, corresponds to the 1988 levels. Currently the cigarette
companies meet the Department of Health on an annual basis 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, which it is expected to publish by the end of November.