Martin in Cabinet bust-up over smoking ban

HEALTH Minister Micheál Martin had a heated row with ministerial colleagues over his controversial smoking regulations at a Cabinet meeting three weeks ago, it emerged last night.

Frustrated that Mr Martin had signed the regulations before the Cabinet had an opportunity to discuss them at its meeting on October 21, a number of ministers confronted the embattled health minister, sources confirmed.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was not present at the October 21 meeting because of peace process talks in Hillsborough.

But at a full Cabinet meeting on October 22, it is understood the Government decided psychiatric hospitals, hospices, nursing homes and hotel bedrooms should not be subject to the regulations.

While the Cabinet, in September, had approved to fully back Mr Martin's crusade in principle, several ministers had wanted an opportunity to view the regulations before they were signed off.

It is believed colleagues, notably Arts and Tourism Minister John O'Donoghue and Justice Minister Michael McDowell, were unhappy the tough regulations that exempted only prison cells had not been discussed.

There were heated exchanges at the meeting, with Mr Martin making an impassioned speech defending his position. One source described it as almost being in the realm of "back me or sack me".

When Mr Martin announced the regulations on October 23, the only exemption referred to in public was for prisons. In the interim, the Department of Health and the Office of the Attorney General, Rory Brady, have been in discussions about the status of the other categories, trying to determine if specific exemptions were required.

Relying on earlier legal advice, the Department of Health at first believed no exemptions would be required for hotel bedrooms, psychiatric, hospices and nursing homes because they could be defined as dwellings rather than places of work, leaving them outside the regulations.

But last Thursday, following consultation with the AG's office, the department announced it was revisiting the regulations and would notify the EU that it would be seeking exemptions for those categories. The reason give was to "firewall" the regulations from legal challenges.

Last weekend, B&Bs, guesthouses and tourist hostels were also added to the list. The EU has to be given a three-month notification, which means the smoking ban will not now come into effect until mid-to-late February.

After five days of discussions, department officials were finalising the wording of the exemptions last night. They are likely to be discussed at Cabinet today before being notified to Brussels.

Yesterday, Mr Ahern rejected the suggesting of indecisiveness on Mr Martin's part. Instead, he blamed the tobacco industry for the need to revisit the matter.

"Our intelligence is, and you don't have to go too far to find it out, that any amount of money is available to those who want to challenge this. We have to go back in a way that I cannot recall ever having to do in the last 20 years, to try to protect ourselves against the litigation of people who just seem to have endless money," he said.