Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If Mr. O'Kelly and the members will indulge me for one moment, the last time he was before the committee was in 2016, I think. At that stage I raised the issue of investment in tobacco and issued a strong press release asking the NTMA to divest itself of its investments in that area. I commenced working on a Private Members' Bill that autumn, which was introduced in the Dáil, namely, the Ethical Public Investment (Tobacco) Bill 2017, a Bill entitled an Act to prohibit the investment of public moneys directly or indirectly in equities or debt securities issued by tobacco companies. Around that time - maybe it was a pure coincidence although I like to think it was more than that - the Minister announced that he was going to introduce similar provisions. I was very pleased to see that result. It was an issue that got well aired when the NTMA was before the Committee of Public Accounts in 2016 and within six months it had divested itself of the tobacco investments.