Smoking Ban

[The Real Laoislad]

It's been great since it came in down here
I've never smoked,and it use to drive me mad when smokers would just blow a fog of smoke in your face and think it was a great laugh to do so
So now when i go to the pub it's great seeing the same smokers huddle together in the cold outside as they smoke their cancer sticks

[ziggysego]

[Square Ball]

Cant wait, I havnt seen any posters advertising this in any of the bars i frequent either

[down22]

The Bot and Fly have posters up about it.

[nifan]

I smoke cigars and I like the odd puff on the pipe and this ban is a disgrace and infringes upon my rights,

what about our right to choose not to smoke, only to have to breathe other peoples?
If you want to smoke stay at home, or alternatively do it outside where the chances of you giving me lung cancer are greatly diminished

[Shamrock Shore]

Won't be long before ye all hear about 'smirting' - i.e. the act of chatting up some young wan out in the cold as ye both enjoy your cigarette.

Come from 'smoking' and 'flirting'.

Best thing ever that was legislated for here. 97% compliance is some achievement.

[Captain Scarlet]

it is a very good thing i have to say. a couple of my mates quit as a result of not being arsed going outside.

i was over in brussels there last year and after getting used to the ban it was terrible to have the yes cut out of my head with smoke wafting everywhere.
it wont be bad for pubs as people go there for the craic and drink not to smoke.

there is a slight downside though as if im ever out in a majority smokers group you end up heving the craic stuttered as they go out and have do their impressions of choo choo trains.

[Fiodoir Ard Mhacha]

Does anyone know how the smoking ban in the noth affects cheap cafes etc. I mean, will customers be asked to put out their fag if they are having a greasy chip etc. How will that work?

[stew]

Best thing in ages, cant wait to come home in September now and enjoy a pint in Devvies and the club without having to have years taken off my life just because some cnut wants to kill himself and take me with him.

[Square Ball]

Smirting, brilliant word but does it work?

[ziggysego]

Ireland smoke ban cleans pub air 

The smoking ban in Ireland has cut air pollution in pubs and improved bar-workers' health, a study has found.
Researchers said the ban, which came in at the end of March 2004, had led to an 83% reduction in air pollution and an 80% cut in cancer-causing agents.

Workers' lung function also improved, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine reported.

But smokers' rights campaigners said the level of carcinogens in second-hand smoke was very small.

Smoking bans are already in place in Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland will follow suit on 30 April, with England's ban coming into force on 1 July.

Air quality

A team from the Research Institute for a Tobacco Free Society in Dublin, studied environmental tobacco smoke exposure in 42 Dublin pubs and tested 73 bar workers who volunteered to take part in the study.

The workers were all given lung function tests before the ban came in and a year later.

They were also asked about their workplace exposure to tobacco.

The bar-workers said they were exposed to around 40 hours per week before the ban came in, falling to 25 minutes afterwards - a 99% decrease in exposure.

And lung function tests improved dramatically in non-smoking barmen post-ban.

Non-smoking employees also demonstrated significant reductions in cough and phlegm production.

Smokers' health did not improve.

'Reversing harm'

Dr Luke Clancy, who led the research, said: "These results confirm that the approach of a total ban on smoking in the workplace is successful in reducing the exposure of workers to particles."

Martin Dockrell, of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) said: "Tobacco interests have continued to suggest that there is no evidence that other people's smoke is harmful.

"Dr Clancy's study shows not only how direct the harm is but - most importantly - it shows how comprehensive smoke-free public places can reverse the harm."

But Simon Clark, director of the smokers' lobby group Forest, said self-reporting of exposure and symptoms could not be taken seriously.

He added: "It's hardly rocket science to conclude that smoking bans reduce exposure to airborne carcinogens.

"However, it's the dose that makes the poison and although second-hand smoke may increase people's exposure to carcinogens, the concentration of particles is usually very small.

"A good ventilation system can reduce it even further. "A lot of people may find a smoky environment unpleasant but that doesn't justify a ban on smoking in every pub, club and bar in the country.

"People, including bar workers, should be given a choice of working or socialising in a smoke-free environment or a well-ventilated, designated smoking lounge.

"This feeble report won't change our opinion."

BBCi: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6559215.stm

[Fishead_Sam]

Was in pubs in Belfast, London & Omagh in the last 3 months have to say nothing more manky than smoke in pubs. Pubs are so much better down here.

Ex-Smoker, smoking ban kicks butts

[dubnut]

the ban is great when you are trying to give up too, you can go for a pint without people waving them in your face right in front of you.

Its a good thing, and if you do smoke I wouldnt worry too much, most pubs here have very comfy smoking areas, you more than likely wont be left on a street corner in the rain.
The landlords dont want to lose ye!

[Fiodoir Ard Mhacha]

Got this in an email the other day concerning the ban on smoking coming in up here on 30th April.

EXEMPTIONS TO SMOKE-FREE PREMISES

* private accommodation;
* a designated bedroom in the following: a hotel, a guest house, an inn, a hostel or a members' club;
* a designated room in the following: a residential care home, a nursing home, a hospice or a research and testing facility;

* a designated room in residential accommodation in a mental health unit;
Note: the provision for smoking in a designated room in residential accommodation in a mental health unit ceases to have effect from 30 April 2008;

* prisons, young offenders' centres and remand centres;
Note: this exemption does not extend to visitors' centres, social clubs, premises on which intoxicating liquor is sold, and premises used for physical recreation of persons other than those detained, all of which are required to be smoke-free;

* a designated room used as a detention cell within a police station, an exercise area within a police station and an interview room within a Child Abuse and Rape Enquiry (CARE) suite;
Note: the provision for smoking in a designated room used as a detention cell within a police station, an exercise area within a police station and an interview room within a CARE suite, ceases to have effect from 30 April 2008;

* and specialist tobacconists (only for the purposes of sampling).

So, all ye smokers will now be heading to specialist tobacconists hostelries...or prisons

[Square Ball]

well

not long to go now! a lot of bars are having a smoking night on Sunday to celebrate/mourn the smoking ban, guess I wont be out tomorrow night then.

Interested to see what impact it will have on my local