Ireland’s environment minister, Martin Cullen, has vowed to continue his campaign to impose a levy on chewing gum, despite industry opposition.


At the European Parliament Environment Committee in Brussels, Cullen said he would not give in to pressure from US-based chewing gum giant Wrigley to abandon the tax, reported the Irish Independent.


Last year Cullen announced that he planned to introduce a tax on chewing gum in order to help pay for street cleaning. Cullen also wants to tax fastfood packaging and bank receipts from cash machines. The money raised from such taxes would be put into a special environment fund, the newspaper reported.