A TOTAL of 38 licensed premises were prosecuted last year for breaching the smoking ban, according to an annual compliance report released yesterday.
The Office of Tobacco Control's (OTC) 2007 Report found 95 per cent of workplaces were operating in compliance with the smoke-free legislation which was introduced four years ago. It went on to warn against complacency in implementing the laws and to stress that the issue of children and smoking must be addressed.
The report shows that 43 cases were taken against workplaces for offences under the Public Health (Tobacco) Act, which resulted in 49 convictions.
Non-compliance cases were taken against 38 pubs, four taxi companies and a public building following 28,982 smoking ban inspections which were carried out by environmental health officers last year. The inspections found some 87 per cent of licensed premises inspected were in compliance with the legislation, as were 98 per cent of restaurants and 93 per cent of hotels.
The largest number of convictions, 20, were issued in the HSE West region, while 18 were issued in the south and seven in the Dublin mid-Leinster area.
Éamonn Rossi, OTC chief executive said the ongoing success of the smoke-free workplace legislation has led the momentum towards smoke-free workplaces in 14 countries.
It was particularly pleasing to see the island of Ireland go smoke-free in 2007 with the introduction by the Northern Ireland Assembly of comprehensive smoke-free legislation, he said.
However, despite the progress made in tackling the problem of smoking, Mr Rossi warned "we cannot become complacent".
"The evidence is clear that half of all lifetime smokers will die from a tobacco-related disease. Therefore it is critical that we continue to focus on protecting young people from tobacco in society and prevent them from taking up smoking in the first place," he said.
A further 2,000 compliance checks were carried out by environmental health officers for cigarettes being sold in packs of less than 20, which were banned last May in an attempt to tackle smoking among young people.
A further 20 cases for sales to minors offences were successfully prosecuted following 684 inspections. These followed instances where a retail outlet or licensed premises sold cigarettes to a volunteer minor.
Dr Angie Brown, of the anti-smoking body Ash Ireland, said she was "particularly concerned" that the report showed a high level of non-compliance by retailers in regard to the sale of tobacco to minors.
"Of 684 test purchases, 203 outlets sold tobacco to minors and this is totally unacceptable. We commend the health officers on their work in this area - but this report shows that illegal sales to minors is still a very serious issue."
The OTC report said upcoming priorities are to continue working for the removal of point-of-sale tobacco advertising in shops.
