A Gaelic sports club has won a ground-breaking waiver of New York's smoking ban after showing that its bingo receipts have suffered a serious decline.
The Gaelic American Athletic Association, an offshoot of the GAA, has become the first organisation in the Buffalo region to win the waiver after showing that its premises, the Buffalo Irish Centre, was suffering a severe drop in bingo profits. Several other restaurants and bars had failed to convince the local health commissioner that the waiver was a business necessity.
The waiver follows that given to the Albany-based Capital District Celtic Cultural Association, which also won the waiver for its bingo nights. The association also got waivers for a Catholic school and a Catholic church, which also run bingo nights.
Each organisation will have to have a separate room for non-smokers with a door and an alarm that will sound in 60 seconds if the door between the smoker and non-smoker rooms is accidentally left open for 60 seconds.
Under the rules of the waiver, which was incorporated into the legislation that introduced the smoking ban, any bar or club that suffered more than a 15 per cent drop in income can apply to the local health commissioner to have the ban lifted.
The Gaelic American Athletic Association won the waiver after showing overall bingo receipts and sales tax receipts since the ban was introduced. The manager of the Irish Centre, Ms Mary Heneghan, said the waiver would only apply to bingo nights.