THE Arthur Cox legal firm has refused to respond to the Irish Cancer Society’s claims that it will no longer accept charitable donations from the global company.
This week the ICS, which has received €40,000 in donations from Arthur Cox since 2013, stated it would decline future contributions because the firm is representing tobacco giant Japan Tobacco in its attempts to block the introduction of plain cigarette packaging by the Irish state.
“Because Arthur Cox are now leading a legal action, which has the clear aim of preventing the enactment of legislation which we consider crucial to the prevention of cancer, we will therefore now decline any offer of a corporate donation from Arthur Cox,” an Irish Cancer Society spokeswoman confirmed.
When contacted by The Irish Post today, Arthur Cox, which has a busy London office, refused to comment on the charity’s statement.
“We haven’t commented on this, and are deliberately not commenting on it,” a spokesperson for the Irish firm told us.
JTI Ireland, Japan Tobacco’s Irish branch, is one of two global companies which have threatened the Irish government with legal action over legislation passed this week banning branding on cigarette packaging.
The Imperial Tobacco Group has also threatened to take action over the bill, which was passed yesterday (Thursday, February 26) following a vote in Parliament.
While it must yet undergo a technical vote and be passed into law by the President, once complete the legislation requiring plain cigarette packaging will come into effect in May 2017.
It sees Ireland become the first European nation to ban branding on cigarette packaging and follows the introduction of such a law in Australia in 2012.
Speaking in Parliament, Children’s Minister James Reilly confirmed the government’s commitment to seeing the law implemented fully, claiming: “We are on the verge of being the first country in the EU to pass a law on plain packaging. We are on the verge of the being only the second country in the world to pass a plain packaging law."
Regarding their potential legal challengers, he added: “We in this house will not be intimidated by such action. We will pass such laws as we believe to be correct. Remember if a bully tries to intimidate you with actions you should stand firm and be true to what you believe to be right.”
