A proposal to ban smoking in outdoor areas where food is served will ‘denormalise’ the use of cigarettes, former health minister, James Reilly, has said.

Smokers are running out of places to indulge their habit with almost all the country’s playgrounds now formally declared tobacco-free zones.

Junior Health Minister Finian McGrath is at the centre of another controversy.

The ban on smoking in public should be extended to pub gardens, school gates, parks and outdoor areas of restaurants, a new UK report has said.

Athlone Institute of Technology has become the first third-level institution in Ireland to completely ban tobacco products on its campus.

Politicians in Wales have voted to make smoking in a car where children are present illegal.

Many thousands of children may have been spared serious illness and admission to hospital by the smoking ban in England, research has shown.

Tobacco companies say they may mount a legal challenge to the Government decision to introduce plain packaging on tobacco products.

The success of the smoking ban has had a positive impact on the health of the less well off in society.

Legislation to ban smoking in cars where children are present has yet to be enacted, almost two years after senators proposed the ban, which has been endorsed by the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland.

Today, Ash Wednesday, is national 'No Smoking Day' and the Irish Heart Foundation is encouraging people - including those who smoke only occasionally - to stop.

Health Minister James Reilly has revealed he wants to hike the cost of tobacco in the budget – and in every budget for the remainder of the Government.

A group representing the rights of smokers said today that putting graphic images on cigarette packets will not put people off smoking.

Russia’s prime minister Dmitry Medvedev has called for a ban on all tobacco advertising.

Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald today said that it is up to local authorities to impose regulations against smoking in public parks and playgrounds, not the Government.

The Seanad will debate new legislation next month calling for smoking to be banned in cars where children are present.

'No smoking' signs may be driving more people to light up, a psychological study suggests.

Chinese health authorities are renewing a push to ban smoking in indoor public places, adding more venues like hotels and restaurants as of May 1, though still excluding many workplaces.

Bar and restaurant owners in Spain fear a ban on smoking in public places will worsen the country's economic crisis.

The Office of Tobacco Control says 97% of workplaces are fully complying with the workplace smoking ban introduced more than five years ago.

The proportion of people who smoke in Ireland has increased over the past seven years despite the introduction of the workplace smoking ban and significant increases in the price of cigarettes.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is calling on the Irish authorities to implement stronger tobacco-control policies in order to do more to reduce smoking.

The Boston Public Health Commission is scheduled to vote soon on expanded smoking restrictions that would be among the toughest in the US.

The smoky cafe, essence of the French lifestyle to many, will be but a hazy memory from next week.

A pub landlord was fined £500 (€719) and ordered to pay £2,000 (€2,876) prosecution costs today after he admitted flouting the smoking ban in public places in England.

Enforcement teams reported total compliance today as the smoking ban ushered in anew era for the North.

Air pollution in Irish pubs is down 83% since the start of the smoking ban, according to latest research by anti-smoking experts.

The countdown to the introduction of a smoking ban in the North was signalled today with a campaign to prepare the public and businesses for the changes.

Hong Kong will become a mostly smoke-free city tomorrow when a ban on lighting up inside restaurants, workplaces, schools, karaoke lounges and public areas comes into force.

The Irish Cancer Society (ICS) is warning the Government that it will launch a vigorous campaign to up the price of cigarettes in the next budget.

An anti-smoking lobby group is calling for the smoking ban to be strengthened and clarified in order to clamp down on increasingly enclosed smoking areas in pubs.

The Irish Prison Officers Association is calling for the workplace smoking ban to be extended to include all of Ireland's jails.

A new survey has reportedly found that one-fifth of Irish drinkers are choosing to drink at home more frequently since the introduction of the workplace smoking ban.

Half of all young people starting to smoke today will eventually die due to cigarettes, it was claimed today.

The workplace smoking ban introduced a year ago has already made a difference to the health of bar workers, according to the Office of Tobacco Control.

A new survey has reportedly found that the workplace smoking ban is causing a fall-off in pub business, but high prices are having a much more detrimental effect.

The American Lung Association has presented the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern with an award to mark Ireland's workplace smoking ban.

Doctors in the North are demanding the implementation of a workplace smoking ban similar to the one operating in the Republic.

Pro-smoking stickers designed to cover up Government health warnings on cigarette boxes are a sick joke aimed at young smokers, health experts have claimed.

New figures from the Office of Tobacco Control have highlighted a slight slippage in the level of compliance with the workplace smoking ban in recent months.

Council leaders in Liverpool tonight voted to ban smoking in public places.

A group of British politicians arrived in Dublin tonight to investigate the success of the ban on smoking in public places.

Fears thousands of hospitality workers would lose their jobs in the wake of the smoking ban were unjustified, an anti-smoking group claimed today.

The vast majority of Irish people support the workplace smoking ban, according to a survey commissioned by the Department of Health.