The Smoking Ban
On Monday of this week, the famous "Smoking in the Workplace" ban came into being in Ireland. This meant that no-where in Ireland can someone smoke indoors in a workplace, only in an outdoor area.
The biggest and most significant area where this new law affects is of course the pubs, restaurants and clubs. Smoking in Ireland is pretty much synonymous with drinking, and from last Monday no-one is allowed to smoke in pubs. This was a very controversial law, with many people feeling that it interferes with people's civil liberties. The law was enacted so as to protect workers from passive smoking, itself a deadly killer. For many months the vintners associations (i.e. the pub owners unions) lobbied against the ban, as they feared people would not go to pubs to drink if they could not smoke a cigarette, and thus they would lose a lot of business.
I think its an excellent law. I know I am biased as I am a non-smoker, but this week it has been fantastic to go into a pub for a few drinks and not come home stinking of cigarette smoke. The pubs are a much more pleasant place to be as a result of the ban. Wandering through Dublin this week at night time was a strange sight (I was in town on Wednesday night to see Ireland play a soccer match against the Czech Republic). Just outside the doors of many pubs were bunches of people, in ones and twos, having just popped out of the pub for a few minutes for a fag, before popping back in again.
Ireland is apparently the first country in the world to outlaw smoking in the workplace, although certain pockets had already banned it (New York and San Francisco come to mind).
The problem is that while the ban is enforceable in the urban areas, and people will adhere to it, it will be much more difficult to enforce in pubs in rural areas, just like enforcing drink driving and proper closing hours is much harder, and people abuse the law more. However, I don't think even the government is expecting 100% compliance. I think its the start of a sea-change in attitude in Ireland, to make smoking more and more socially unacceptable, over the course of maybe ten years.
The new ban is also a great incentive for people to give up cigarettes for good. Most people who try to give them up have a lot of difficulty when they go out for a drink, because people around them are smoking, and they are used to having a smoke with their drink. Hopefully the ban will make it easier.
I think this is possible the best piece of legislation the current government have introduced, and it will make a genuinely positive impact on Irish society.
The biggest and most significant area where this new law affects is of course the pubs, restaurants and clubs. Smoking in Ireland is pretty much synonymous with drinking, and from last Monday no-one is allowed to smoke in pubs. This was a very controversial law, with many people feeling that it interferes with people's civil liberties. The law was enacted so as to protect workers from passive smoking, itself a deadly killer. For many months the vintners associations (i.e. the pub owners unions) lobbied against the ban, as they feared people would not go to pubs to drink if they could not smoke a cigarette, and thus they would lose a lot of business.
I think its an excellent law. I know I am biased as I am a non-smoker, but this week it has been fantastic to go into a pub for a few drinks and not come home stinking of cigarette smoke. The pubs are a much more pleasant place to be as a result of the ban. Wandering through Dublin this week at night time was a strange sight (I was in town on Wednesday night to see Ireland play a soccer match against the Czech Republic). Just outside the doors of many pubs were bunches of people, in ones and twos, having just popped out of the pub for a few minutes for a fag, before popping back in again.
Ireland is apparently the first country in the world to outlaw smoking in the workplace, although certain pockets had already banned it (New York and San Francisco come to mind).
The problem is that while the ban is enforceable in the urban areas, and people will adhere to it, it will be much more difficult to enforce in pubs in rural areas, just like enforcing drink driving and proper closing hours is much harder, and people abuse the law more. However, I don't think even the government is expecting 100% compliance. I think its the start of a sea-change in attitude in Ireland, to make smoking more and more socially unacceptable, over the course of maybe ten years.
The new ban is also a great incentive for people to give up cigarettes for good. Most people who try to give them up have a lot of difficulty when they go out for a drink, because people around them are smoking, and they are used to having a smoke with their drink. Hopefully the ban will make it easier.
I think this is possible the best piece of legislation the current government have introduced, and it will make a genuinely positive impact on Irish society.