Mullingar's tobacco factory concerned about proposed EU directive

A Mullingar firm is lobbying hard against an EU proposal that it is warning could place 120 jobs in Mullingar in jeopardy.
The EU, in its draft Tobacco Products Directive, is proposing to ban the sale of tobacco in pouch sizes smaller than 40g – which could have major implications for Mullingar’s Imperial Tobacco factory, in business in the town since 1967, and paying out €7m in wages annually.
Deirdre Healy, corporate affairs manager with Imperial Tobacco, is concerned not just because the machinery at the firm’s Mullingar plant caters for two pouch sizes – 12.5g and 25g – but because requiring smokers to buy at least 40g of tobacco at a time could make the cost so high that they will turn in increasing numbers to the black market for their tobacco. At present, she says, an estimated 29 per cent of the tobacco products sold in this country are sold through the black market.

Deputy Robert Troy shares the firm’s concern over the proposed charges: "“[Imperial Tobacco] cannot condone smoking: it’s bad for everybody, but at the same time, it is a legitimate company, and it’s a good company in the town of Mullingar providing 120 high quality jobs, and there has to be more of a carrot approach,” said Deputy Troy this week."

Some 6,400 submissions were sent to the Department of Health during a public consultation process that ran from December to January, and in the Dáil, Deputy Troy was told that examination of these submissions is ongoing.
Among the submissions were several from staff members at Imperial Tobacco concerned about the impacts on their jobs.