Question of the week: Should the Irish ban on smoking in public places be extended to the rest of the EU?

Date: 01/04/04

IRELAND introduced a controversial ban on smoking in public places on Sunday (28 March). Jim Murray, an Irishman, is director of BEUC, the European Consumers Association. We asked him:

Should the Irish ban on smoking on public places be extended to the rest of the EU?

Murray: Expats often like their countries of origin to stay the same. Ireland has changed very much (for the better) since I left and now comes the greatest change of all - no more smoke in Irish pubs.

I have spent many happy hours in Doheny & Nesbits - a fabled Dublin pub frequented by journalists and politicians. The ceiling there had reached a deep rich brownish-gold hue, unknown elsewhere and attainable only by prolonged exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke. No more. Art has given way to health.

Should the rest of Europe follow? Might Ireland (again) rescue Europe from the Dark Ages? Let's examine why Ireland took this initiative.

The Irish ban was introduced to protect workers from exposure to tobacco smoke and also as part of a wider public health campaign to reduce tobacco consumption. These objectives are just as valid in other member states and even more valid where tobacco consumption is higher and more deeply embedded in national culture. The potential gains for workers' health and public health are the same.

Like Finland and Luxembourg, however, and unlike all other EU states, Ireland has never had an empire. We have no experience of imposing our

Question answered by Jim Murray, Director of BEUC, the European Consumers' Association.

http://www.beuc.org/Content/Default.asp http://www.beuc.org/Content/Default.asp

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