There’s no need for an outright smoking ban
There is no need for a total ban on smoking, which will only destroy the social life of a large number of people especially in rural areas.
The Taoiseach has spent the last few years opening bars, but now he has gone a long way to closing many of them.
The publicans, smokers and many elderly people will not forget who was responsible.
Bertie Ahern, always the master of compromise, has lot his touch.
Employees’ health, the rights of the smoking public, the rights of families to have their children with them in bars for a reasonable period, the rights of smoking tourists and the rights of non- smokers all could have been catered for in a compromise solution.
I am extremely disappointed at the demise of Fianna Fail as a party for the people. In their quest to impress their European colleagues they have become a party of yuppies and health zealots, totally disconnected from the reality of life in Ireland.
Pat Gill,
Darby O’Gill’s Country House Hotel,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.
