Yesterday's welcome change in climatic conditions wasn't confined to outdoors. Clear, bright skies and a fresh, crisp air were enjoyed indoors, too, at least in the 15 pubs in the Eastern Health Board area which opened new smoke-free zones under the first phase of the board's public house health initiative.
"We've wanted to do this for a long time but never had the courage," said Ms Marian Nolan, owner of The Bird Flanagan in Rialto, Dublin, which has designated its conservatory as a non-smoking area.
"It's great that people can sit here now and look up through the windows at the blue sky rather than smoke clouds."
Her husband, Mr Joe Duggan, added: "I've worked in a pub since I was 15 and I do worry about the damage it has done. A few people have been upset by the idea, but it's like drink-driving: it will take a while before attitudes change and people will come to accept smoke-free areas as the norm."
Under the pilot EHB scheme, participating pubs have been provided with special beer mats, table signs and window stickers indicating smoke-free conditions.
A recent survey by the board showed that almost half of smokers and seven in 10 non-smokers wanted a smoke-free zone in their local. A quarter of those surveyed said they left a pub because of a smoky atmosphere.
Ms Niamh O'Rourke of the EHB's health promotion department said the initiative was aimed at giving customers a choice "without anyone feeling they're being penalised". Even small bars, she said, had the capacity to introduce a smokefree zone.
Of the 14 other pubs to introduce such zones, three are in Dublin, four in Co Kildare and the remainder in Co Wicklow. They are the Oval Bar, Middle Abbey Street; Duffy's Pub, Malahide; the Gallops, Leopardstown; the Abbey Lodge, Celbridge; Mooney's Pub, Monasterevin; Kane's, Athy; Glenroyal Hotel, Maynooth; Glenview Hotel, Glen of the Downs; Quinn's Lodge, Baltinglass; Stratford Arms, Stratford-on-Slaney; Lawless Hotel, Aughrim; Jack White's, Red Cross; the Bridge Inn, Newcastle; and Poulaphouca House, Hollywood.
A further 40 pubs are to join the scheme early next year. Health and safety training sessions for staff, including advice on how to deal with unruly customers, will take place in January and February.
