The Office of Tobacco Control wanted snooker stars such as Steve Davis and Stephen Hen dry to praise the anti-smoking policies of the Minister for Health and Children when they came to the Irish Masters' Snooker tournament in March.
The tournament was part-sponsored by the Department. The OTC asked the conference organisers to agree that "players will, in media interviews, as the context allows, make a positive and supportive mention of the tobacco-free society initiative of the Minister for Health and Children."
It suggested that players use phrases such as, "The tobacco-free society initiative is a great idea". It also suggested that they say: "If you are serious about quitting, get help from your family doctor" or "In our sport concentration is essential; that means you have to be fit. Smoking damages fitness."
Unfortunately for the OTC's scriptwriters, their ideas were turned down swiftly and without ado by tournament organiser Mr Kevin Norton. "The players are here to compete in the CityWest Hotel Irish Masters' Tournament," he declared in a fax and that was the end of the matter.
The name of the tournament was a bitter disappointment to the Department, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show. The Department had wanted its message to be part of the main title of the tournament, with words such as "Smoke-Free" "Tobacco-Free" or "Break Free" included.
Indeed, this was described as "critically important" in a brief prepared by advertising agency QMP D'Arcy.
However, the Department failed to negotiate this with the organisers. The other sponsor, the CityWest Hotel, got its name into the main part of the title so that the tournament was known as "The CityWest Hotel Irish Masters' Snooker in association with the Department of Health and Children."
The decision to sponsor the tournament was announced in January by the Minister, Mr Martin. The deal was for three years at £200,000 a year, but the documents show the Department could pull out of sponsoring the tournament in 2002 and 2003.
The possibility was discussed by two senior officials, Mr Noel Usher and Mr Chris Fitzgerald, just three weeks before this year's championship.
According to a memo by Mr Usher, Mr Fitzgerald said he did not anticipate any difficulty in cancelling the arrangement "should this be the Department's decision".
The championship had lost its sponsorship from Gallaher (Dublin) Ltd because of anti-tobacco regulations.
In a memo in January, Mr Usher told deputy secretary Mr Tom Mooney that if the tournament were to be cancelled for lack of sufficient sponsorship, "it would undoubtedly be the Minister who would be blamed for the demise of a very popular international event. Whilst this, of itself, would not be sufficient reason for deciding to support it, it would be a factor to be considered in conjunction with those below."
The other reasons referred to the publicity potential of the tournament for the anti-smoking message.
It is clear from the documents that the Office of Tobacco Control felt it was not sufficiently consulted about the deal.
It felt it would get insufficient exposure in return for its £100,000 share of the cost compared to that received by the Health Promotion Unit of the Department.