Ahern defends smoking ban revisit

The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has defended the decision by the Minister for Health Micheál Martin to revisit the controversial smoking ban regulations.

Speaking in Dublin, Mr Ahern said normally the work done on the ban earlier this year would have been sufficient.

However, he said it was obvious there was 'endless money' available to challenge Government intentions, and he said ministers had to proceed very cautiously.

Mr Ahern said that in 20 years he had not seen a situation where a Government had been obliged to go back over legislation in such detail.

Officials at the Department of Health were this evening putting the finishing touches to the revised regulations before sending them to the EU in Brussels for approval.

Hospitality alliance respond to comments

Responding to the Taoiseach's comments, the chairman of the Irish Hospitality Industry Alliance, Finbarr Murphy, said that the alliance was registered with the Standards in Public Office Commission.

The Alliance was limited in the donations it could receive to a maximum €6,000 per donation. He said that the majority of its donations had not exceeded €200.

He said that the alliance was the only group in this debate to be registered with the commission and it was transparent.

He also called on the government to disclose how much it was spending on its anti-smoking campaign.