*Sonic*

Just come back from a week of working in Ireland, well Newbridge, and staying at the Curragh racecourse hotel

What a load of nonsense the no smoking rule is in bars etc, well in fact anywhere indoors it would seem

Most people I spoke to reckon that come the winter people wont go out

Still Im going back there again, so best take a brolly & a warm coat next time

Jaybird-UK

I thought it was an excellent idea, best part was not stinking like an ashtray the next day. Even the smokers in my party (irish) didnt mind.

New York has introduced this too

*Sonic*

Yep I agree to some extent, that the bar actually smells decent

but a PITA to keep having to go outside for a smoke

twas my first time in southern ireland, and I was amazed at what a friendly bunch of peeps they seem to be

just about everyone says 'ello and asks how you are doing etc etc

Jerome

I could have sworn I replied to this. Maybe SN is more anti-smoking than I thought...

marky1

well i smoke and it doesn't bother me. I was in Dublin last weekend, and quite happy to go out and smoke. Just because we want to kill ourselves doesnt mean we should take everyone down with us. If it's such a pain for you stop!

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

What a nice pleasent attitude marky1 I just wish all smokers thought like you.

jasey

Last trip to Dublin we bumped into a group of folk celebrating someones Birthday. By the end of the Evening you'd have thought we we all members of the same Family .

Going back there in December for a Party of my own .

farmer1

minor_threat

So do you want a wooly bobble hat and scarf for your birthday?

Claudius

I've been to a non smoking bar once, smelled like beer-impregnated wood and other unpleasant odors. Better get good smoke extractors.

RB5 Paul

I'd heard that there were more people outside the pubs now tho than inside,i think it would be better to ban chav's and children from pubs rather than smoking

SCOSaltire

were the pubs still busy?

DieselDoo

I was also in Dublin last weekend, the pubs in temple bar were full and a really nice atmosphere. I dont smoke but my wife does, she seems to think it would be a bit of a pain in winter as it only came into force the end of March. I`d go outside and sit with her and its surprising how sociable you get with the other smokers, but one individual did tell us that she prefered to stay at home with a few cans if it were raining, so time will tell.
I think sooner rather than later it will be like it over here.

Brendan Hughes

Where's SomeDude? It's been this way in Belgium for some years, I hear.

King RA

I smoke and would be all for banning smoking in pubs. It's unfair on others at the end of the day, and would make a perfect opportunity to give up. And if you don't give up it's alot more sociable and u smoke less!!

Claudius

That's assuming you want to give up or smoke less. I agree we are being hammered by the media with how bad the whole smoking thing is (a way to justify ever increasing taxes on tobacco), but people also smoke because they like it, and forbidding it takes their pleasure away. There are so many things that are bad for you, including alcohol, that banning smoking in pubs sounds a bit strange. You can drink your liver to death in one of those places, but if you have a cigarette, you'll die from lung cancer? Gimme a break!

RB5 Paul

lol Thats just what i think

Greeny01

I think its a great idea. Why should all the non-smokers have to suffer everyone elses smoke. Get outside or give up if you dont like it. I hope it comes into play here. There's nothing worse than going home at the end of the night stinking like an ashtray. I think its time for a change!

Iain

marky1

yeah but by drinking yourself to death you are really only harming yourself (aside from family) With smoking, unfortunately you are harming people who have nothing to do with you and who don't know you. I think it's a little different.

Brendan Hughes

Alcohol in moderation is not bad for your health. (Debatable, but...)

Smoking in moderation IS bad for your health.

Both products are taxed to buggery.

If you can get more people onto the healthier one (encourage the non-smokers back into pubs), you can keep the tax receipts and not have to hand the money to the NHS for treatment later.

Not bad, huh?


(What, me cynical? )

Claudius

I didnt know liver transplants were cheaper than lung cancer treatment, please accept my apologies

How about lowering taxes on motorbikes then?

camk

its all driven by the dangers of passive smoking, when all these non smoking bar staff start getting ill in 30 years from now from lung cancer they will sue their old employers for exposing them to dangerous environment.

Jerome

New York has gone a bit further than Ireland.

Once Bloomberg (the most rabid anti-smoker on the planet) banned smoking in bars, he noticed that people were still smoking on patios, so he banned that too. He then noticed people would huddle outside the bar under the entrance canopy, so he banned smoking under any form of cover. The only way bars are able to get around the smoking ban is to park a smoking limo in front of the bar. At least until Bloomberg bans that as well.

Anyway, what will probably get ignored in this thread (as it did in the last smoking one) is that most bars have/had smoking/non-smoking areas. If you don't smoke, go into the non-smoking area. Why ban people who smoke from smoking even in a completely sealed and separate room? To protect the bar staff? Nah, that line is often trotted out. Many bar staff smoke anyway, and no-one forced them to work in a bar in the first place.

Smoking bans are almost always as the result of some trumped-up non-smoking cardigan wearing official, who hasn't been in a bar in decades, making a rare visit to a bar and getting a whiff of smoke. If these busy body officials were all kidnapped by aliens (and hopefully given a thorough 'probing'), the world would be a better place.

corradoboy

Never been to Ireland then ?

Claudius

I dont know about the aliens, but I totally agree with the rest. It isnt simply protecting non-smokers, as that can be done otherwise (as you say), it's forcing your way of life on people who live in a different manner. It's intolerance bordering on tyranny.

Claudius

I havent; are the pubs busy, then?

M444GY

iTrader: (72)

i go to ireland alot and it is a stupid law . it has ruined the irish pub culture. its not the same being in a smokeless bar . they could have tried it somewhere else first like russia or some where . the irish are one of the largest drinkers and smokers in the world and just because of some silly fu*ks the whole country has to abide to this stupid law! why dont they have a non smoking area like any normal place so if u dont like the smoke f*ck off to it! rant over!

camk

What bollocks, just because some bar staff smoke then they all need to suffer, also working in any environment should not be a danger to your health. Tell that to the boys who worked in the shipyards and ended up with Asbestosis, its no different, while working to live you get killed by your environment. Thats unacceptable in any civilised society.

Jaybird-UK

Because our canteen at work stinks and has turned yellow thru smokers (even though though their section is seperate) we're banning them from it after its refurbished and making them smoke under a smoking shelter in the car park


Nice

fast bloke

you would have to drink an incredible amount of alcohol to have any effect on my liver..... no so with a smoke.