From the Archive... ‘Smokers prepared to adapt sensibly to brave new world of the Irish pub’

Ahead of its introduction in March 2004, ANN CASEY spoke to punters and publicans about their thoughts on the drastic new measures about to be introduced. That article is republished here.

LIKE the sheriff in Tombstone, Damien Clarke, the manager in Ryan’s Pub in Navan could have been reaching for his holster at the first sign of a customer’s lit cigarette.

Or maybe not. It was simply a question of “no smoking on the premises - no ifs or butts! (pardon the pun). And if you light up, you’ll be politely asked to stub it.

With just two hours to go to ‘Cinderella Hour’ on Sunday night (when the Government’s new ban on smoking in the workplace came into effect), Ryan’s popular hostelry was packed and there were a fair few smokers in sight.

“In general, I think that people will just take the smoking ban on board,” said Damien optimistically, “I think that people won’t want to be the first to break it and they might be embarrassed in front of their friends if they light up.”

There’s a good crowd in tonight, from the 21s up to the middle-aged and it looks like the smokers are outnumbered by the non-smokers, or perhaps it was Ryan’s excellent extractors which did the trick.

“I think people will accept the ban after a while,” the bar manager went on. “Sure, didn’t it come in on buses and planes and there wasn’t a revolution.” He’s a non-smoker himself working in a trade whose hallmark has been the brown stained ceiling, and he’s happy that Micheal Martin has taken the plunge and brought in the new law. Customer Michael Gibbons, who lives in Navan, has never smoked in his life but he is uncertain as to how the ban will actually work. “That’s going to be the big test,” he said. “I can see the ban working in the big pubs like this one, but what about all the small ones down the country? I know it seems good from a health point of view but it’s going to be very difficult for people who have smoked all their lives.”

There’s an outstanding bonus from the ban for Derek Jackson and Andrea Abbott. “At least you’ll be able to go out for the night to a pub and not come back stinking of smoke,” said Andrea. They’re both non-smokers and welcome the ban, although they thought there might be a compromise centred on smoking and non-smoking areas of a pub.

How would you feel if you got out your calculator and worked out that you had spent € 30,000 on cigarettes in the past 12 years?, asked Mark Mooney, originally from Beauparc and now living in Navan. He and his two friends did the calculations on Sunday night and were staggered at the outcome. “I’m not joking when I say that I’m happy enough about the ban,” he said. He has often tried to give up the fags and his latest attempt before Christmas lasted five weeks.

Mark is employed at Tara Mines and the company has told employees that it will be complying with the new law “to the letter”. However, Mark says that at a safety committee meeting last week, there had been a debate as to what constituted “the workplace”.

“The question was being asked: if you step inside the gate on a Monday morning and you’re still in the open air, are you at the same time in the workplace?”

Maurice Darcy doesn’t touch the filthy weed. “I hate smoking and I think the ban is going to be a great thing health-wise and smoke-wise. And here’s my new slogan - smoke is for chimneys and not for lungs!” Micheal Martin would be proud of him. “The thought of coming home from the nightclub without the smell of smoke will be just fantastic”, he says.

Of the seven friends sitting at his table in Ryan’s, only one, Lorna Egan from Athboy, was smoking. “I’ve been smoking for four years,” she said, “and I think the ban might help me to give them up. I smoke about 10 a day but I eat them when I go out at the weekend.”

Paschal O’Reilly is a Labour Party candidate in June’s local elections but he won’t be smoking on the campaign trail. “It’s good for me because I’m a non-smoker but I have a lot of friends who do smoke and I’d certainly be sorry for people who have been smoking 20 or 30 years and can’t give them up,” he says.

Damien Clarke points out one particular danger zone for pub staff. “If someone comes in and orders a pint and then goes outside on the street for a smoke, he or she will expect the pint to be there when they come back. If somebody happens to lift it, there might be a problem.”