IRELAND: IRELAND BECOMES FIRST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD TO BAN SMOKING IN ALL ITS RESTAURANTS AND PUBS

Record ID: 566143

  • Title: IRELAND: IRELAND BECOMES FIRST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD TO BAN SMOKING IN ALL ITS RESTAURANTS AND PUBS
  • Date: 28th March 2004
  • Summary: (W4) DUBLIN, IRELAND (MARCH 28, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF DUBLIN, RIVER LIFFY. 2. CLOSE OF PEOPLE SMOKING IN STREET 3. EXTERIOR PUB 0.35 4. VARIOUS INTERIORS PUB/ PEOPLE SMOKING (7 SHOTS) 1.20 5. SOUNDBITE (English) BRENDON DOWLING SAYING: "I'm glad it's coming in because, at the end of the day, I know these are killing me. If it entices even one people, person to give up, then so be it." 1.35 6. SOUNDBITE (English) PADDY CONNOLLY SAYING: "Half me (my) mates won't come here, 'cause they smoke. We don't smoke, it doesn't bother me. I think it's disgraceful." 1.44 7. VARIOUS PRESS CLIPPINGS ON PUB WALL 1.53 8. SOUNDBITE (English) RICHARD ROBERTS SAYING: "I think you're adding more pressure on the bar staff and everybody else, there's enough crime in Ireland as it is. You're giving more pressure to the barman who are already having to deal with drugs, and now they're going to have to deal with this." 2.11 9. VARIOUS PUB 2.22 (W4) DUBLIN, IRELAND (MARCH 29, 2004) (REUTERS) 10. EXTERIOR RESTAURANT 2.32 11. IRELAND'S HEALTH MINISTER MICHEAL MARTIN (NOTE SPELLING EAL IN MICHEAL) SITTING IN RESTAURANT 12. SOUNDBITE (English) IRELAND'S HEALTH MINISTER MICHEAL MARTIN SAYING: "I think it's important to point out that over 70 percent of the people now do not smoke, the majority of people will actually look forward to this and I met a lot of people that would actually go back to pubs as a result of the fact that they will no longer be smoke-filled to the degree that they have been up to now so you know I've been to California, I've been to New York where life has continued on, the world has not collapsed for people." 3.10 13. PEOPLE SMOKING IN STREET 14. CLOSE OF CIGAREETE BUTT ON GROUND (2 SHOTS) 3.27 Initials EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: NO GAELIC LANGUAGE AS ADVERTISED ON SLATE. Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 12th April 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DUBLIN, IRELAND
  • Country: Ireland
  • Reuters ID: LVAA66H8V83H7TQK4DSZ9HL3CL6R
  • Story Text: Ireland becomes the first country in the world to
    outlaw cigarettes in all its restaurants and pubs.


    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: NO GAELIC LANGUAGE AS ADVERTISED ON
    SLATE.



    From midnight on Sunday (March 28 into March 29) it
    became illegal to smoke in virtually all workplaces, closed
    public spaces and on public transport, with fines of up to
    3,000 euros (3,500 U.S. dollars) for transgressors.

    While similar bans have been imposed in cities and
    states elsewhere in the world, including in California and
    New York, Ireland is the first country to impose such a ban
    nationally.

    "I met a lot of people that would actually go back to
    pubs as a result of the fact that they will no longer be
    smoke-filled to the degree that they have been up to now...

    I've been to California I've been to New York where life
    has continued on, the world has not collapsed for people,"
    said the health minister Micheal Martin.

    Opinion polls have consistently shown that most people
    in Ireland support the move, and the government says that
    even 40 percent of the country's smokers are behind it.

    "I'm glad it's coming in because, at the end of the
    day, I know these are killing me. If it entices even one
    people, person to give up, then so be it," said Brendon
    Dowling, a smoker.

    Others were not so happy. "Half me mates won't come here,
    'cause they smoke. We don't smoke, it doesn't bother
    me. I think it's disgraceful," said Paddy Connolly, a
    pub-goer.

    Some smokers have had March 29 pencilled in their
    diaries for months as the day they will give up a habit
    which costs some 7,000 lives in Ireland each year.

    But others say the ban is ill-conceived and
    unenforceable.

    Pub owners will have to confront defiant smokers who,
    perhaps emboldened by drink, refuse to heed the "no
    smoking" signs plastered across the walls of their pubs.

    "I think you're adding more pressure on the bar staff
    and everybody else, there's enough crime in Ireland as it
    is. You're giving more pressure to the barman who are
    already have to deal with drugs, and now they're going to
    have to deal with this," said Richard Roberts, pint in
    hand.

    Other critics say the ban is another example of the
    state meddling in the private affairs of its citizens.

    Norway is set to impose a similar ban in June and
    European Union health commissioner David Byrne, who is
    Irish, has said he would like to see the experiment
    mirrored across the bloc.


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