An outright ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants is to be announced today by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin. The ban, which will cause outrage among publicans and smokers alike, will be announced at the launch in Dublin of a report on the ill-effects on health of passive smoking in the workplace.
That report, compiled by an expert group on behalf of the Office of Tobacco Control and the Health and Safety Authority, will call for a total ban on smoking in workplaces, which includes pubs and restaurants. It states unequivocally that environmental tobacco smoke is a serious carcinogenic. Other dangers include a risk of developing cancer, heart disease, respiratory tract infections, or giving birth to low-weight babies.
The report's recommendations have been taken on board by Mr Martin and the Minister for Labour Affairs, Mr Frank Fahey, who will officially launch it this morning.
At the launch, Mr Martin will give details of plans to bring forward tough new anti-tobacco regulations to provide for an outright ban on smoking in all workplaces.
Last November Mr Martin announced smoking would be banned in restaurants and pubs when food was being served. He also said publicans would have to provide smoke-free zones and that he was looking at banning smoking at bar counters due to the ill-effects of smoking on bar staff.
These measures, many believed, would have been impossible to implement and the Minister was accused by the bar workers' union, Mandate, of not going far enough. The union wanted an outright ban on smoking in pubs "in the interests of the health and safety of bar workers". At that time the Vintners' Federation of Ireland said a total ban would be "unworkable" and claimed ventilation systems were successfully eliminating tobacco smoke.
However, a report published earlier this week by a senior environmental health officer with the Western Health Board, Mr Maurice Mulcahy, stated that the effect of ventilation systems was limited. His report called for a ban on smoking in all public places to which children have access.