30-06-2025
Government called on to extend smoking ban to public places
The Irish Heart Foundation (IHF) has said it supports calls for Ireland to extend the smoking ban to a number of public areas.
It follows France's decision to ban smoking on beaches and in parks, public gardens, bus shelters, as well as near libraries, swimming pools and schools but café terraces are exempt.
Anyone caught breaching the ban will face a fine of €135.
It is hoped that the ban will protect children from passive smoke.
Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in indoor public places, including bars and restaurants, in March 2004 when Taoiseach Micheál Martin was the minister for health.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, the IHF's senior policy manager Mark Murphy said there is significant public support for further restrictions on smoking in Ireland.
"We would support this, and I can imagine most health organisations would support a measure like this.
"We know that smoking still kills 4,500 people each year in Ireland, and we know the hugely successful impact that the indoor workplace smoking ban had in Ireland," Mr Murphy said.
He added: "There's a huge amount of public support for extending these types of smoke free spaces.
"The HSE have done surveys on this kind of question, and 64% of people in Ireland supported is extending the ban on tobacco in public places."
Mr Murphy said that extending the ban would be beneficial for young children and future generations, but enforcement may be an issue.
"If we bring in these bans on smoking in public places, it really does denormalise the effect of smoking for the next generation, and that's what we need to think about," he said.
"Enforcement is an issue, but I think when you have a lot of public support and public buy-in and really, when you do frame it around the health of children, I think that's a really key part of it.
"The right of children to breathe clean air trumps any other right. But enforcement is an issue," he added.
Last year, the previous government agreed to ban the sale of tobacco products for those aged under 21.
And Mr Murphy said he believes the current Government would strongly support extending the ban.
Mr Martin and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill spoke at the World Convention on Tobacco Control in Dublin last week.
"He (Mícheál Martin) has been very vocal on tobacco and e-cigarettes, and we have the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll was very vocal. So, we do have a supportive Government in place," he said.
"We think this is something that France could lead on, but Ireland could follow."
