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Published 20-Aug-2004. Reproduced by kind permission of The Publican.
The government in Ireland has come under more pressure to review the smoking ban after a member of the Irish parliament attacked the law.
Finian McGrath, a politician for the Independent party, has told the Irish health minister Micheál Martin that the ban is severely damaging the tourism trade.
He claims visitors are put off by standing outside because they are easy targets for drug dealers and beggars, with women more at risk.
Mr McGrath said: “Thousands of Irish smokers are now cancelling weekends away to Galway or Kerry and looking abroad for their breaks while foreign visitors from Spain and France are dismayed by our laws and lack of tolerance.”
The Licensed Vinters Association in Ireland revealed that turnover in Dublin pubs has fallen by as much as 16 per cent since the smoking ban was introduced in March.
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