INDEPENDENT TD Finian McGrath claimed smokers were being subjected to discrimination.

He said: “Throwing smokers out into the wet and windy streets in the cold and rain shows a complete lack of tolerance for 29 per cent of the population’’.

He added: “The closing down by the HSE hit squads of smoking areas in pubs that install a cover or a roof for smokers is completely over the top.

“I have direct experience of this. Where publicans put up a little canopy or a little extra cover for smokers, the HSE closes down their designated smoking areas within 24 hours.’’

Criticising the “nanny state’’, Mr McGrath said many people were sick and tired of “these petty occurrences’’. He asked where the “HSE hit-squads’’ had been when they were needed to move in and help the children in the Galway abuse case highlighted this week.

Mr McGrath said he was “one of those very bad people despised by many sections of society, particularly in modern Ireland, because I smoke’’. While he supported the Bill, he had major concerns about how smokers were treated.

The elephant in the room, which was known to all political parties, was the loss of jobs in the past five or six years.

“I make this point because publicans have told me their revenue has dropped by 15 per cent to 20 per cent,’’ he added. “Many young people are now drinking cans of beer at home because they can smoke at home.’’

Mr McGrath said his position was that designated smoking areas in all pubs was a sensible and fair solution.

“This solution respects the rights of non-smokers and gives smokers a break from the high moral ground brigade,’’ he added.

“Accommodating difference and enjoying diversity should be at the heart of any democratic society.’’

Denying that a “nanny state’’ existed for smokers, non-smoker Jerry Buttimer (FG) said the issue concerned public health.

“I am not in favour of prohibition and accept people have the freedom to make a choice,’’ he added. “However, if a certain action, such as smoking, has a serious health effect on people, it should not be condoned or tolerated.’’

Smoking killed and the Bill was about enhancing public health, said Mr Buttimer. Passive smoking posed serious health risks.

“Children exposed to second-hand cigarette smoke are twice as likely to develop a neural or behavioural disorder, such as hypertension,’’ he said.

Independent Shane Ross said he welcomed the Bill, although he was doubtful about its effectiveness.

Questioning the value of shock therapy, he said that while some of the pictures used were commendable, they also contained some horrific images.

He suggested it might be better to accentuate the positive benefits of not smoking, or giving up smoking, rather than the horrors of what one might do to oneself, or have already done to oneself, in continuing to smoke heavily.

Mr Ross said he had smoked 100 cigarettes a day for many years.

“It was unhygienic, undoubtedly unhealthy, unpleasant for people who were with me, and it caused offence to the many people who had to put up with it,’’ he said.

He recalled smoking between courses at meals, before he got up in the morning and went to bed. “I smoked in bed,’’ he added.

It was an addiction that must be discouraged, said Mr Ross.