An appeal from the environmental health profession for more inspectors to enforce tobacco legislation has been ignored by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The profession, which was charged with policing the smoking ban without a single additional post is now struggling with a raft of new public health legislation.
Annmarie Part, chairperson of the Environmental Health Officers Association, (EHOA) appealed to the Health Minister Mary Harney for more resources to the profession, in a written submission on the further enactments of the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts last November.

There have been no additional health inspectors appointed to the HSE in the past four years.

“Our profession took on the enforcement of the workplace smoking ban in 2004 without a single additional Environmental Health Officer post. Since then we have been given responsibility for further enactments of legislation enforcement provisions again with no further resources,” the letter, obtained under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, read.