A Dublin pub which put a perspex roof over a yard and made it a designated smoking area has been fined for being in breach of the smoking ban.
Downeys of New Cabra Road is the first premises in the Dublin area to be prosecuted under the smoking ban laws. Around 20 premises outside Dublin have been prosecuted.
Downeys, which entered a plea of guilty, was found to be in breach of the Public Health (Tobacco) Act, 2004.
Judge Hugh O'Donnell imposed a fine of €500 plus €625 in costs, with two months to pay, in the Dublin District Court yesterday.
The case was taken by the Health Service Executive (HSE), northern area, after one of its public health officers went to the premises on May 10th, 2004.
Chris Counihan, public health officer, said when he went to the premises there were two customers smoking in the separated area and they extinguished their cigarettes when they were advised they were in breach of the Act, he said.
"Clearly it was a designated smoking area with bar stools and ashtrays provided. It was a yard with a perspex roof and the yard was converted into the designated area," he said.
It was a separate area from the rest of the pub and the roof covered the whole area, he said. He did not see anyone smoking in the main bar.
The court was told that the roof was removed on Good Friday and the premises was now in compliance.
A solicitor for Downeys said the pub had been affected by the smoking ban. His client did not intend to flout the law by having the perspex roof. The proprietor had spent €4,000 to €5,000 converting the yard by erecting the perspex roof and putting down a plywood floor.
The judge said the proprietor should have checked the law before that.
Later, a spokeswoman for the Office of Tobacco Control said there had been no previous prosecutions under the smoking legislation in the Dublin area.
From the records, there had been prosecutions in the various HSE areas but this was the first in Dublin.
She said that from the start of the ban until the end of February this year, 20 premises had been prosecuted in court over the new smoking laws.