Smoking ban for cars ‘is to protect children’

Smoking in cars where children are present will be outlawed from January 1 with offenders facing fixed fines of €100 and tougher penalties if caught breaking the new law by gardaí.

Ministers, health campaign groups and senators announced the start date for the new law, which comes after the successful introduction of banning smoking in the workplace.

James Reilly, the minister for children, pledged that gardaí would be able to police the new ban as he outlined how children’s health would be saved from no longer inhaling toxic smoking fumes.