High Court: Judge was wrong to dismiss charge of breaching smoking ban

A High Court judge has ruled a District Judge was wrong to dismiss a charge of a breach of the smoking ban against a pub which had created a smoking area with a retractable roof.

In 2009 District Judge John Coughlan had ruled that a retractable canvass awning covering an enclosed laneway of Grace's Public House in Naas, was not a "roof" however Mr Justice Peter Charleton said "a roof is a roof" and this roof at issue created a fully enclosed area for smokers in breach of the ban.