Europe’s anti-smoking man takes aim

One person who’s particularly keen that Ireland trounce Wales in the Six Nations rugby is the EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, David Byrne.

"I want to be able to go into the first meeting of the week and give Neil Kinnock a hard time," he laughs mischievously. "He wouldn’t speak to me a couple of years ago when we gave Wales a thumping. Then we did the same to England and he said, ‘All’s forgiven!’"

Rugby talk out of the way, one imagines that the Commissural conversation will turn to the even bigger ruck that’s brewing in the Gulf. We’re all aware of the question marks about Ireland’s neutrality at home, but what’s the European take on our position?

"Those who follow this particular brief closely would understand Ireland’s position as being one of military neutrality," Byrne proffers. "But, as the Minister for Foreign Affairs stated on the radio recently, our position has never been one of political neutrality. Ireland hasn’t in the past, and won’t in the future, join mutual defence pacts like NATO. Which isn’t to say that we would not engage in a NATO-led operation or the rapid reaction force that’s been established by the European Union if, for instance, we had another Bosnia-type situation. In fact, Ireland has committed 850 soldiers to the rapid reaction force and could be part of that."

Have none of Byrne’s EU Commissioner colleagues said, "Hang on a sec…isn’t being neutral and allowing American armed forces traffic to go through Shannon a bit of a contradiction?"

"No because it’s not Ireland engaging in any military activity. I and a lot of other people don’t have a problem with that, some volubly do. It’s a passive situation – you don’t have to be a member of NATO to facilitate this sort of situation. I’m quite sure that, in Europe, nobody sees any inconsistency in that position."

While adamant that he’s not obliged to toe the party line, David Byrne’s background is strongly Fianna Fáil, and his appointment in 1999 as the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection was enthusiastically endorsed by Bertie Ahern. A former barrister who prior to his Brussels call-up was Attorney General of Ireland, the 54-year-old has been particularly active in taking on the "evil and immoral" tobacco multinationals. It is a subject about which he clearly feels passionate.

"How else can you describe an industry that, knowing the damage their product does, targets young people to replace the ones they’ve killed off?" he asks. "80% of smokers start during adolescence, which is an obscenity we have to tackle."

With his own EU department mounting a major initiative, designed to counter the phenomenon of increased teenage smoking, Byrne is naturally delighted by Health Minister Michael Martin’s announcement that smoking is to be banned in bars and restaurants in Ireland.

"He’s dead right. This was done in California and it subsequently transpired that after an initial drop, pubs actually made more money. The Vintners’ Association are saying, ‘Oh, it’ll lead to closures and job losses’, but have they given any thought to the personal injury liability claims that may arise from this?

"Actually forget may, it will happen. The link between passive smoking and cancer being irrefutably proved, we’re going to see an increase in litigation brought by barmen, deejays and wait staff. Publicans would want to reflect on that pretty urgently. It’s already happening in the States."

Indeed, December 2002 saw Philip Morris U.S.A. being ordered to hand over a massive $32 million in punitive damages to the estate of cancer victim Jesse Williams. Would Byrne like to see them followed into the dock by their Irish counterparts, P.J. Carroll and Gallagher’s? Far from flinching, Byrne is adamant that the case against the tobacco companies is a powerful one.

"There are already proceedings in being, against the tobacco industry in Ireland, and I applaud that as a move forward," he resumes. "I think it’s an accident of history that tobacco’s legal. If it were put on the market today, the Food & Drugs Administration in the States and the Regulatory Authorities in the European Union wouldn’t allow it."

Whatever about reversing legislation on tobacco, it’s become something of a pro- lobby mantra that it’ll be Europe that legalises cannabis, not individual governments. David Byrne, however, does not see it happening.

"No, that’s a wrong assumption," he insists. "The laws at European level are made not by the Commission, but by the European Parliament and Council for Ministers which are both the elected representatives of the people. While there are some voices saying that the approach to cannabis should be relaxed, the majority view is very much in the opposite direction. The UK, Scandinavia, Ireland, France…they’re all completely opposed to the relaxation of existing laws."

As Hillsborough recently experienced another long night of the soul, what, as Ireland’s Attorney General at the time, are David Byrne’s binding memories of being involved in hammering out the Good Friday Peace Agreement?

"Exhaustion – we’d been negotiating non-stop for several days in Belfast – and relief because we’d expected the signing to take place the previous evening and it didn’t happen. The big breakthrough came at 7am, but we’d heard various whispers before that. For instance, the SDLP came through to us in the Irish Government’s room at around 2am and said they’d done their part of the deal. The level of commitment from the Taoiseach, Blair and Clinton – who telephoned three times during the night – was fantastic."

What about the other key players?

"I was very impressed with the passion and knowledge of the issues that was shared by the SDLP and Sinn Fein," Byrne divulges. "Of the Unionists, David Ervine was fantastic. I’ve very high regard for him. With regards to the DUP and Ian Paisley, whenever I was involved in an Irish capacity, his reaction was cold and aloof. And I’m being diplomatic expressing it that way! He’s done and said things in terms of the resolution of the situation in Ireland, which I consider to be quite deprecating. I imagine the likes of George Mitchell would agree with me on that. Since then I’ve met him as a Commissioner and he’s quite different.

"To return to the Good Friday Agreement," he concludes. "The secret of its success is that it includes the possibility for a united Ireland to come about by peaceful means if that, democratically, is the will of the people. If ever there was a justification for violence – which I don’t accept – that was the end of it. My belief is that the difficulties which currently exist in terms of the Agreement will be resolved. The ride may be a bumpy one, but we’ll get there."