So Ireland has survived its first night of The Ban. Some news stories about it:
“‘It’s the most stupid law I ever heard of,’ he complained. ‘Telling people how to live their lives – if they’re going to sort something out about our health, they should sort out the health service first.'”
“‘The only fundamental right I see here is the right of a worker to work in a clean, safe environment…'”
“The only public places exempt from the ban are police cells, prisons and psychiatric wards. This means that the criminal and the mentally ill will enjoy a freedom denied to the law-abiding and the sane. Is it just me or is there something slightly Irish about that?”
“‘I am for the ban. It’s inconvenient, but at least out here I’m not killing anyone else.'”
“‘He stayed in the loo (restroom) too long. I smelled smoke, went in and could hear him puffing, puffing, puffing behind the door…'”
“‘I reckon it’ll be like the euro when that came in: it’ll take some getting used to but after a few weeks most people will adjust.'”
…Our own rural local is very like one described in one of the news stories above — a combined pub and grocery, with the ice cream and milk coolers near the door, and the bar and pub area through an archway past the groceries. Last night Paul the barman (who manages the place with/for his mother Mary, the licensee) said that there’s been “not a bother”. The ashtrays were gone. People sat at the bar chatting as usual. A few folks went out the back door to the new covered outside smoking area, then returned twenty minutes or so later. …Mondays are always a little quiet: we’ll see how things develop.
Links to the government antismoking websites:
SmokeFreeAtWork, Ireland
The Irish Office of Tobacco Control
