A primary school teacher has won her High Court bid to have health warnings on cigarette packets sold here published in Irish as well as English. The warnings and other information notices are currently printed in English only.
Proceedings brought by Caitríona Uí Riain against the Minister for Health and Children and the State were settled yesterday on the basis of the State agreeing to a mandatory order requiring it to amend the relevant law by October 1st to provide that health warning notices and information notices on cigarette packets be published in the same size in Irish and English.
The State also agreed to the making of a court declaration that it must amend the relevant law here to comply with a European directive - Directive 2001/37/EC - in relation to health warnings, and ensure that the two languages are treated equally in accordance with the provisions of that directive.
In proceedings conducted in Irish, the settlement of the action on those terms was announced to Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill yesterday by Séamus Ó Tuathail SC, for Ms Uí Riain, with an address at Ryefield, Virginia, Co Cavan, and working as a teacher at a primary school in the Rathcairn Gaeltacht in Co Meath.
Gerard Hogan SC, for the respondents, said he was consenting to the settlement. The judge said he was pleased the parties had reached agreement and made the declaration and orders sought, including an order for costs to Ms Uí Riain.
In her action, Ms Uí Riain claimed that a statutory instrument of 2003 which was intended to give effect to the 2001 directive did not properly implement the directive regarding the information appearing on tobacco products in that it did not require the health warnings and other information notices to be printed in Irish in the same size with clear priority for the Irish language as the first official language.
