A Fine Gael TD wrote to the health minister requesting that the sale of rolling tobacco pouches including papers and filters should be banned after being lobbied on behalf of a cigarette company.

Bernard Durkan, a member of the Oireachtas health committee, yesterday claimed that he was not aware that the lobbyists who had contacted him represented a tobacco company.

The lobbying register states that GME Media, on behalf of John Player, engaged Durkan in the past three months. John Player was seeking an amendment to “prohibit the sale of rolling tobacco, papers and filters in one unit or pouch”.

Correspondence, seen by The Times, shows that Vincent Gribbin, a lobbyist for John Player, wrote to the TD on July 2. Attached in the email

Registered in England No. 894646. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF.