Madam, - Laurence Cleary (April 13th) writes in support of the smoking ban, arguing that he now smokes less and no "longer needs to send out a search party" for his lungs after an evening in the pub.
When he finds himself in a country where cigarettes are cheap he immediately triples the amount he smokes. He became ill after doing this on first trip abroad and then repeated those actions on a second trip, making himself ill again. He wants a total ban on smoking tobacco because he believes this is the only way he can ever give up.
I'm not sure if Mr Cleary is merely weak-willed or also simple-minded but the fact that he chooses to boast about the former in a national newspaper seems to suggest the latter. Here is an adult demanding that the Government make it illegal for him to do something that he now does from choice. Not only that but, bizarrely, he wants everyone else to be affected by this proposed change in law. I would like to suggest an alternative: Mr Cleary should take responsibility for his actions and stop expecting the Government to lead his life for him.
Incidentally, your coverage of the anniversary of the ban was outrageously biased in favour of the ban. Just because a high percentage of people believe the ban was successful does not mean the same number support it or think it was a good idea. I agree that the ban has stopped people smoking in bars but I was led to believe that its purpose was to improve public health. As Desmond Fennell (April 12th) pointed out, this has not been proven to be the case. The ban did, however, take the spotlight off the appalling state of the health service for many months so in that sense it did fulfil its true purpose. - Yours, etc.,
AIDAN O'CARROLL, Mount Argus Close, Kimmage, Dublin 6.