The Vintners' Federation of Ireland predicted yesterday that the total ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants announced by the Government would not be introduced in its present form. The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, has said the ban will come into force on January 1st next.
However, Mr Tadg O'Sullivan, the VFI chief executive, said he was certain it would not be introduced in its present form. Improved ventilation and air purification systems in public houses were the way forward in dealing with the effects of smoking. This was the route the British authorities were taking, he said, and he believed Mr Martin would soon see it was the sensible option.
Mr O'Sullivan said it was "outrageous" to say that 150 bar-staff died every year from ill-health caused by environmental tobacco smoke. "I'm 20 years in this outfit and I have yet to hear of even one person dying from a tobacco-related disease," he said.
The Minister's announcement was "a knee-jerk reaction to scaremongering and misleading information peddled as fact," he said.Mr O'Sullivan said cigarette machines would become redundant in pubs if smoking was banned.
The ban would also reduce the number of tourists, as holidaymakers would opt for a European country where they could smoke.
The VFI, the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) and the Licensed Vintners' Association have all sought meetings with Mr Martin on the issue.
Both the IHF and the VFI will be highlighting the difficulty of policing the ban. Mr Jim Murphy, the IHF president, said the Minister was "very vague" in explaining how the ban would be enforced, "and it would be unreasonable to expect that enforcement would rest solely with the hotelier".
Meanwhile, a UCD air pollution expert, Dr James McLoughlin, said the smoking ban would soon be seen in the same positive light as the ban on smoky coal.
Dr McLoughlin, a member of the EU steering committee on urban air and indoor environment, said the respiratory death rate in the elderly had fallen since the ban was introduced the the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, in 1990 to reduce smog in Dublin.
On the Today with Pat Kenny show, Dr McLoughlin pointed out that the total ban on smoking in California had actually had a positive effect on the hospitality industry. While some individual businesses had suffered, the overall effect was that people were spending more time in restaurants and bars because of the cleaner air.
The Irish Council of Civil Liberties (ICCL) said yesterday it did not see the ban on smoking as an infringement of civil rights. The proposal has also been welcomed by the Irish Medical Organisation and the Irish Cancer Society.
