Smoking ban’s start date pushed back until Easter

THE date for introducing the smoking ban in pubs and restaurants has been put back until Easter.

The Irish Examiner understands that the ban will take up to eight weeks to come into effect once the Department of Health gets the go-ahead for its implementation from the European Commission at the end of next week.

Working on that timescale, the ban should be in place in late March or in the first week of April.