Madam, - May I most sincerely thank Garrett O'Boyle of the Department of Political Science in TCD (April 6th) for his gentlemanly correction of the errors contained in my letter on the extent of the smoking ban (April 3rd)?
I do have one question arising out of the information contained in his letter. Are all the terraces of the pubs, cafes and restaurant in the Dawson Street/Grafton Street area exempt from the ban? I am no expert on property measurement but the details in Mr O'Boyle's letter suggest to me that, come the fine weather, non-smokers wishing to avoid inhaling nicotine fumes must remain in the interiors of these establishments while smokers can indulge in their habit, perhaps not quite to the content of their hearts, on the terraces and watch the world go by. Will notices designating these terraces as "Smoking Areas" be on view?
In the same correspondence Mr J. Cliffe Beirne, consultant maxillofacial surgeon at St James's Hospital, writes of three mandible fractures suffered by people involved in violent encounters while smoking outside a pub. On radio the other morning he expanded on these events by explaining that the incidents occurred not because people were smoking but because people, not smoking, found it difficult to gain access to pubs, whose entrances were blocked by groups of smokers.
I am sure that none of us thinks of blaming road-rage incidents on the rules of the road. - Yours, etc.,
TONY HICKEY, Strand Road, Dublin 4.
Madam, - J. Cliff Beirne's letter (April 6th) is quite incomprehensible, except as a guide in how not to use statistics. Stating X happened Y times in circumstance Z as a means of drawing an inference is less than helpful in determining the extent to which Z (the smoking ban) influences the Y times (six) we see X (broken jaws). In order to make any determination of the effect of the ban, we need to know how many facial traumas are seen by Mr Beirne on a weekly basis, the number of these that occur outside pubs, the number of those that occur while the victims were smoking, and all this over a representative time period. Otherwise we are in the dark as to the effect. - Yours, etc.,
BRIAN M. LUCEY, Lecturer in Finance, School of Business Studies, Trinity College, Dublin.
Madam, - I have just returned from three days in Brussels smelling like an overfilled ashtray. The local bar beside the hotel had not only the majority of customers smoking but the three barmen also.
The good "Belgian" restaurant recommended to us placed us, as requested, in the non-smoking section - but within half an hour we had four smokers (including two cigar smokers) sitting beside us. A comment to the waiter brought no response, only a shrug of indifference.
In a Greek restaurant filled with families with young babies and children my friend and I were the only non-smokers. It was with real pleasure that I arrived back to the smoke-free city of Dublin. Belgian food and wine may be much cheaper but I wouldn't swap Ireland for all that smoke! - Yours, etc.,
FIONA WHOOLEY, Beechpark Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18.