418. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Health the number of other EU member states which raised concerns, under the EU transparency directive, regarding his Department's proposal to introduce plain packaging on a legal consumer product; and if he will seek the input of IDA Ireland and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation when he is preparing his response to the concerns raised as they relate to the weakening of Ireland's intellectual property rights regime. [46191/14]

Minister for Health (Deputy Leo Varadkar):  As the Deputy will be aware, Government approval was received on 19th November 2013 to proceed with drafting the Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013. The legislation has now been passed by the Seanad and Second Stage of the Bill concluded in the Dáil on 2nd October 2014.

The Bill was formally notified to the Commission and to Member States under the EU Technical Standards Directive (98/34/EC) and the Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU) on 17th June 2014. The Commission and Member States had until 18th September to comment or provide detailed opinions on the proposed measures. As the Deputy has noted, eight detailed opinions on the proposed measures and one comment have been received from a number of Member States. For this reason, the standstill period has increased by three months, i.e. until 18th December 2014. The legislative process cannot continue until after this standstill period.

The detailed opinion documents are currently being considered by officials in my Department, and a response is being drafted in consultation with the relevant Government Departments.