Simon to phase out cigarette handouts

CADGING a few cigarettes from Dublin Simon Community volunteers on the soup run will soon be a thing of the past.

The organisation which looks after around 400 people who sleep rough on the city streets never distributed cigarettes but volunteers who smoked never minded giving a few from their pack when asked.

Now, however, Dublin Simon has decided to phase out the practice among volunteers who smoke because of plans by the Minister of Health to outlaw smoking in the workplace at the end of January.