Madam, - Patrick J. O'Brien (April 7th) claims that it was unwise and arrogant of Mr John Deasy TD to request that a locked fire exit in the Dáil bar be opened to allow him to smoke legally.
The door is apparently left open during the summer and the area outside it was officially declared a smoking area the day after Mr Deasy committed his most terrible of sins. Leaving aside the fact that the fire exit should not have been locked, how can Mr O'Brien claim that Mr Deasy's actions were unwise and arrogant?
Mr O'Brien goes on to claim that the general drinking public has decided to obey this legislation in a "mature, responsible and law-abiding manner". No doubt the majority have, though the report from Mr Cliff Beirne, maxillofacial consultant at St James's Hospital, that three of the six broken jaws he treated on the morning of Monday April 5th were smoking ban-related suggests that not everyone is as law-abiding as Mr O'Brien would like to believe.
As a retired associate lecturer Mr O'Brien might not have witnessed much of the sickening violence that already regularly occurs in and around pubs late at night. As a 26-year-old replete with a "dubious personal value system", I have. And I strongly suspect that the violence will get worse because of this ban. - Yours, etc.,
AIDAN O'CARROLL, Kimmage, Dublin 6.
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Madam, - I watched John Deasy's interview on the RTÉ News last night (April 6th).
I decided that with one act of "defiance" against what he sees as repressive legislation, he has shown the law-abiding people, smokers or not, that voting for these people really is a waste of time.
How else would any young person who is enjoined to get out and vote feel when they have to abide by the rules and John Deasy gives himself permission not to?
He couldn't get out of the confines of the Dáil bar so he "had" to stay in there and smoke three cigarettes!
I am a smoking cessation counsellor (and a non-smoker) and while I revel in the new atmosphere in my local, I do understand how difficult it is for the individual smoker to comply.
I acknowledge their patriotism in doing so.
I hope that John Deasy never gets another vote from the electorate as long as he lives. - Yours, etc.,
TOM NORTON, Blanchardstown, Co Dublin.
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Madam, - Somewhere in the fog of smoke surrounding John Deasy's silly action lurks a vital question: why was a fire/emergency exit locked? - Yours, etc.,
PETER FLETCHER, Priory Ave., Blackrock, Co Dublin.