A good start - Ban on smoking in cars

THE admirable war on smoking and the havoc it causes was intensified yesterday when regulations making it illegal to smoke in a car carrying children were signed into law. The Protection of Children’s Health (Tobacco Smoke in Mechanically Propelled Vehicles) Act 2014 will come into effect next month.

It is difficult to imagine that despite millions of tobacco related deaths and despite decades of explicit and forceful educational programmes designed to stop people smoking, that anyone would expose young children in a confined space to cigarette smoke. That a parent should so risk their child’s health is utterly incomprehensible — as is the fact that a law is required to protect children from their indifferent parents.

It is anticipated that offenders will face a fine of around €80 — a figure that pales into insignificance when compared to the €25,000, plus having a car seized, levied on a motorist who repeatedly failed to pay tolls on the M50. The car smoking ban is justified but it might be more convincing if the fines were a bit more than a week’s supply of cigarettes.