Party pow-wow to stub fag ban

IT looks like there’ll be no smoke and no fire at Fianna Fáil’s pow-wow in Sligo tomorrow as the party’s chief anti-smoking ban braves will be on distant plains.

Despite the expectations of lobby groups who oppose the smoking ban that the contentious issue would be raised at the first meeting of Fianna Fáil TDs and senators in two months, Minister for Health Micheál Martin looks set to be smoking the peace pipe at the Sligo Park Hotel.

Fianna Fáil TD Noel Davern, who led the opposition to the smoking ban all Summer, will be missing from the parliamentary party gathering.