Publicans fuming over smoking ban
August 2003
Publicans have reacted strongly to the proposed workplace smoking ban and see it as a devastating blow to their industry.
‘To be honest, there has been nil thought put into this. It’s an unworkable and impractical proposal from the Minister,’ said Des Whelan, of The Wicked Swan in Wexford.
Mr Whelan feels people have not really grasped the full implications of the proposed ban yet. ‘This is about smoking in the workplace, not just pubs. So if a plumber visits you at home to do some work, and you some in your own home while they are there, you are breaking the law.’
Mr Whelan believes that the expert groups the Minister is relying on are misinformed. ‘There is no expert on those groups who is an expert in air changing or air ventilation. They are cherry-picking their information from an American EPA study that was not even published, as it was found to be inconclusive.
‘The most sensible way to deal with the problem is a good air ventilation system,’ said Mr Whelan, who believes businesses will made to suffer unnecessarily under the new proposals.
‘I will lose 30 to 40 per cent of my trade,’ he predicted. ‘It will demolish trade. They majority of my customers are over 25 and cigarettes and drink go hand in hand for them. A non-smoker will still go into a smoking pub, but a smoker won’t go into a non-smoking pub.’
Joe Browne, owner of Browne’s Bar in Gorey and President of the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI), agrees that the ban is ‘unworkable and unenforceable’.
‘The Minister has not thought it out properly. In New York, they found that small pubs that didn’t do food were devastated by the ban there when it came in. New York is showing a 30% drop in trade and people on the state border are actually leaving the state for places like New Jersey, where there is no smoking ban.
‘This will affect jobs, not to the extent of 65,000, which the Irish Hospitality Association predicted, but there could be a 20% to 30% drop in trade. A lot of our small members will not be able to survive,’ he said.
Publicans could face heavy fines or even a jail sentence if they fail to keep their pubs smoke free. ‘You wouldn’t treat animals like that. I am surprised that civil liberties groups haven’t looked at this,’ said Mr Browne.
The VFI hope that Michéal Martin’s ministerial colleagues will intervene and block the move to implement the ban. ‘When he is coming out with all these rash statements, maybe his colleagues are listening and thinking they should listen to the will of the people instead,’ said Mr. Browne, who believes the industry is not strong enough to survive the damage the smoking ban will cause.
‘Trade is not wonderful,’ he said. ‘People are not drinking as much. Guinness recently let 134 people go, and that would never have happened ten years ago. The government are going to destroy the whole industry and the Irish pub as we know it,’ he said.