Councillors consider moves to ban playground smoking

SIGNS asking adults to refrain from smoking are likely to be erected in Cork County Council playgrounds, while the local authority ponders how it could police a bylaw actually banning all smoking at these facilities.

While the majority of the 48-member council have supported a call by Councillor Deirdre Forde for an outright ban, many have expressed concern that they don’t have the resources to police it.

Ms Forde (FG) said she had been asked to seek the ban by the anti-smoking lobby ASH, and thought it was a good idea.

She said not only would it prevent children from imitating their peers in later life, but the move would also save the council money on cleaning up cigarette butts.

Her party colleague, John O’Sullivan, said he would always aspire to protect children’s health, but threw a spanner in the works when he suggesting an outright ban might actually discourage some parents from taking their children to playgrounds — a situation he said he did not want to see develop.

“A more in-depth analysis of this is needed,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

Councillors Pa O’Driscoll and Mary Hegarty, both FG, said they’d support the introduction of a bylaw, while FF’s Frank O’Flynn added that the GAA had just banned smoking on the terraces at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

“They did provide smoking areas outside. Maybe we should provide a designated smoking area in part of the playgrounds,” Mr O’Flynn added.

Fine Gael councillor Kevin Murphy, a reformed smoker, said a ban was “unrealistic” as he could not see how it could be policed.

Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus McGrath agreed with him and said it might be more prudent to erect signs asking people to refrain from smoking voluntarily.

County manager Martin Riordan said that signs could be erected in playgrounds where parents smoking was deemed to be a problem.