Smoke ban a breathtaking success
MOST bar owners and pub goers declared
Ireland's smoking ban a breathtaking success today, a day after the
country became the first in the world to outlaw tobacco in
workplaces.
Publicans, the government and anti-smoking activists agreed
Ireland's largely trouble-free introduction of the ban Monday
should inspire other nations to do the same.
"Many countries are watching us in the belief that if it can
succeed in Ireland, it can succeed anywhere," said Luke Clancy,
chairman of the Irish chapter of a United States-based pressure
group called Action on Smoking and Health.
Mr Clancy described the government's decision to outlaw smoking
inside more than 10,000 pubs in the country of 3.9 million as "a
cultural shift which I believe will see the rate of smoking drop
greatly and relatively quickly.
"In my clinic, people tell me all the time that they only smoke
when they're in the pub," said Clancy, who has identified pubs as
Ireland's No 1 recruiting ground for young smokers.
Health Minister Micheal Martin, who announced plans for the ban 14
months ago, also outlawed the sale of 10-cigarette packets and
ordered shops to lock up stocks of tobacco products rather than
display them.
He hoped such measures will discourage youths from starting.
He rejected criticism the ban was denying smokers their civil
liberties.
"The only fundamental right I see here is the right of a worker
to work in a clean, safe environment," said Martin, who predicted
150 fewer people in Ireland would die from smoking-related
illnesses each year.
Bar managers, customers and police reported few troubles as
smokers largely opted to take their habit outdoors onto the
pavement last night.
Most pubs had already erected signs at the front doors warning
violators faced up to a fine of up to $A4,978.
By Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin (c) Herald Sun 2004