Beautiful country with a dirty habit

I HAVE read with interest the debate among your correspondents on smoking in pubs.

As a recent visitor to your beautiful country I can tell you with certainty that the thing we liked least was all the smoking. You can’t go anywhere without people lighting up.

Still, I look forward to our next visit and will be delighted if we can go to a restaurant or pub without inhaling smoke from nearby patrons.

In California we have a smoke-free environment in the workplace, including bars and restaurants.

While the bar-owners claimed business would go down, in fact it went up.

All of us who would prefer to have a smoke-free place to visit have now returned to the restaurants and bars

because the air is clean.

In time I think you will find that this is a very good thing, both for the health and safety of your residents and for

visitors to Ireland.

Smoking should only be allowed in the privacy of one’s home among consenting adults.

The health of your population depends on a significant reduction in the number of smokers.

I hope that a campaign to quit smoking is going to accompany the new law.

Gail F Cooper,

Public Health Administration,

San Diego,

California,

USA.