Micheál, help us cope with addiction rather than try to ban it

FOR a man who was reportedly awaiting a call from the Grim Reaper about a month ago, Charles J Haughey has reaped a nice profit from the sale of Abbeville which, during his tenure there, stood as a symbol of everything that is rotten in this country.

Apparently, he personally negotiated the contract to sell his grandiose mansion and 230-acre estate for €40m to Manor Park Homebuilders. It has been estimated that the contract, which he signed on Tuesday, will net him a handy €34m after tax (the latter two words being a phrase he would not be too familiar with).

What he would be all too familiar with, though, would be the manipulative and devious schemes which saw him crawl through financial mires, or have others do it for him, to achieve a financial status to match his ego. Along the way, as Taoiseach, he had no compunction to use and abuse the most powerful political office in this country to line his exceptionally deep pockets.

Abbeville and its estate gave Haughey a substance and standing predicated on sand and represents an odious achievement by a politician who had a price tag on his very soul.

He will forever be remembered as the "disgraced former Taoiseach", an epithet which he paid for with the currency of his own deceit.

I don't know if there is a smoking room in Abbeville or even a room for smoking but on that controversial subject I may have missed something along the way.

I was under the impression that when Minister for Health Micheál Martin announced his draconian measure to introduce a blanket ban on smoking from January 1 next, that it had the imprimatur of the Government.

While Minister for Education Noel Dempsey two days ago said that the decision had already been made and would be implemented on New Year's Day, it seems that the wording has yet to be finalised by the Government.

Months ago, when Micheál Martin published his draft regulations to give effect to a directive on the global ban on smoking in the workplace, including pubs and restaurants, it seemed that he had delivered a fait accompli.

At this stage in the proceedings, it seems that is far from the case. To underline that point, a Government spokesman said that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern "is at one with the Minister for Health on the objective of securing a smoke-free environment for employees in the workplace".

The Taoiseach did not say it himself, which is rather typical of the man who likes to remove himself from anything that he might have to commit himself to.

There is a totally justifiable argument for curbing the dreaded weed, but the manner in which the Minister for Health has gone about it is totally over the top.

There are similar arguments why the minister should go on a crusade to have prohibition declared here, because drink is one of the most disruptive factors in the life of this country, particularly family life.

If passive smoking is dangerous, then so too are the affects of alcohol on many thousands of families here. It is also directly responsible for so many deaths and injuries on our roads.

Public disorder and violence on our streets at weekends when nightclubs close is blamed on drink. And it is definitely related to absenteeism in the workplace.

Logically, if the minister is concerned about the health of the country, and I don't doubt he is, then he should be clamouring for the abolition of drink. But that would get him sent to a home for the bewildered. Pursuing the goal of a total ban on smoking, in the manner and in the time frame he proposes, is also illogical and bewildering.

If he gets his way, irreparable damage will be done to the hospitality industry, because there is absolutely no denying the fact that while there will be plenty of beer in the pubs, there won't be too many people in them to buy it.

The proof is in the New York experience where business has fallen away by anything from 30% upwards. It is the only example he has, because a total ban on smoking does not exist anywhere in Europe.

A whole way of life will be changed by the guillotine measure Micheál Martin is stubbornly pursuing, despite the fact that most people including many non-smokers do not want it to change so drastically.

By being so gung-ho on the smoking issue, the minister is his own worst enemy. He could achieve what he wants to achieve if he adopted a more rational and reasoned approach, and took on board the compromises which have been put to him. What he intends is utterly impractical, and politically naive. He should remember that the wording of the directive has still to be approved by the Government, and the tentative support of the Taoiseach isn't exactly the kind of collateral you would present to a bank manager. That, plus the fact that the long grass is parting to reveal a handy enough ambush of the minister's plans by some of the most astute practitioners in his own party.

To date, 14 Fianna Fáil TDs including Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh have overtly criticised the smoking ban as currently envisaged. The latest to declare his opposition to the Martin zealousness is his Cabinet colleague, Environment Minister Martin Cullen.

Mr Cullen is absolutely right in averring that the global ban is unworkable. I would go further and say it is absolutely daft. Quite sensibly, he would rather see a gradual phasing-in of the ban, with compromises put in place to get people used to it, such as special smoking rooms in pubs and proper ventilation.

On that latter subject, I was talking to a publican a few weeks ago who had carried out a huge refurbishment of his suburban pub in Cork. As part of the total overhaul of the premises, he had installed a state-of-the-art ventilation system which cost him €250,000 to ensure the comfort and health of patrons. From his point of view, that will be a complete waste of money if the complete smoking ban goes ahead.

Martin Cullen is right when he said,"I think to blankly do it on the first of January is posing difficulties. Anybody would be a fool not to recognise that."

Micheál Martin is anything but a fool, but he has painted himself into a corner on this issue. At this stage, it would be realistic to accept the fact that he has scared the bejaysus out of publicans, hoteliers, restaurateurs and smokers and he has planted in the public psyche the fact that smoking in public is on the way out.

But the addiction to smoking will not end at midnight on December 31 next, just because the minister ordained that it should.