Oh sure. LOL!
Posted on 03/28/2004 10:31:11 PM PST by Murtyo
Ireland is about to ban tobacco from workplaces, but rebellion hangs heavy in the air, particularly in that smokiest of places, the pub.
"I won't be enforcing it and I won't be telling my staff to enforce it, simple as that," pub owner Danny Healy-Rae said of the ban, which takes effect Monday.
It applies to any enclosed work space, including more than 10,000 pubs, as well as billiard halls, private clubs, home offices, even a lone trucker's cab.
"We've a busy enough job to do here as it is, and we can't be chasing people into the television lounge or the toilets," added Healy-Rae, whose pub is in the County Kerry village of Kilgarvan, where, as is typical in rural Ireland, most customers smoke.
"We'll have to just let everyone smoke away as usual and the hell with what they say in Dublin."
Ever since Health Minister Michael Martin proposed the ban last year, surveys have shown a majority of Ireland's 3.9 million people, about 25 per cent of whom are smokers, support the idea. It would be the most sweeping restriction on cigarette smoking imposed by any country.
But enforcing the ban may be difficult.
Under the guidelines of the government's Office of Tobacco Control, pub owners can face fines of up to the equivalent of $5,200 Cdn per offence if they fail to make "all reasonable efforts" to deter smoking.
The guidelines specify pubs should display "no smoking" signs prominently at their entrances, bar areas and restrooms. Bar staff should tell smokers they're committing an offence, then, if they don't stop, refuse to serve them and ask them to leave.
If the customer refuses, the guidelines suggest calling the national police force. Police officers have reacted with outrage.
"It's not a function for a police force at all. We haven't resources to deal with far more serious issues, never mind dealing with obstreperous smokers," said P.J. Stone, spokesman for the police officers' main union.
The ban's key enforcers are about 40 Health Department inspectors, who will be responsible for spotting violations in pubs and hotels. Another 100 inspectors from the Health and Safety Authority, who currently monitor building sites, farms and other workplaces, will be asked to check for smoking employees, too.
Pubgoers predict that in tight-knit rural villages, pub owners will risk a fine rather than turn away familiar faces.
"This is a middle-class ban for city-centre pubs in Dublin and a few other cities and towns," said Terry Rafferty, a retired bank manager and pub connoisseur from western County Mayo.
"In Dublin you've got huddles of health-conscious people, trendies. But out in the sticks, forget it. They're still very happily health-unconscious."
I did hear on the news that the pub owners over there are going to "just ignore the ban." Should be interesting.
Oh sure. LOL!
Hey! Good for you! Good luck with that. It's always exciting moving into a new place. I always hated the move out, but loved moving in......fixing the place up and all that.
The stuff they put in tobacco to keep it lighted makes it a very useful time delay fuse. Light up the cig, poke a hole by the filter and slip the fuse into the hole.
Sorry to hear that! Didn't know they were in season! :)
Maybe you need a better dog........
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