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Editorial: Ireland's workplace smoking ban

The introduction of new legislation in relation to smoking in the workplace in Ireland on 29 March 2004 was preceded by intense public debate for over twelve months and by international coverage considerably in excess of what is customary for events in Ireland. One reason for the international interest was because the legislation had profound implications for addiction policy in its broadest sense way beyond Ireland’s boundaries. The part alcohol plays in Irish society was another reason for the international interest. In the week the ban was introduced Sky News covered the events extensively and the tone of the broadcasts was incredulity that Ireland would be to the forefront in bringing in legislation that would ban smoking in pubs. The ban was also commented upon in broadsheets outside Ireland. At a scientific level the legislation has been the subject of comment in mainstream medical journals. The British Medical Journal in an editorial on 10 April 2004 gave a succinct account of the lead up to the new legislation and the work that had to be undertaken to make it a reality (Howell, 2004). A less-detailed perspective was also published by the New England Journal of Medicine a month later (McElvaney, 2004). Ireland has been to the forefront in developing progressive legislation to counter the harmful effects of tobacco smoke and the introduction of new legislation in 2004 has been the culmination of efforts for well over a decade involving partnerships between the public health community, legislators, civil servants and the trade union movement. Naturally, there has been vigorous opposition to the legislation from the hospitality industry. It was assumed that this opposition, particularly from the vintners, would be successful and persuade or intimidate government into rowing back on the proposed legislation. It is to the credit of former Minister for Health in Ireland, Michael Martin, that he resisted this pressure and persuaded his government colleagues to resist intensive lobbying. The strategy of the hospitality industry in opposing the new legislation and the approach of the tobacco industry in attempting to stymie more effective public health measures have not gone unnoticed by the general public. The tobacco industry has been bruised in Ireland over the last decade by successful public health advocacy. Tobacco control first became a political issue in Ireland in the late 1970s. Attempts to restrict smoking advertising in the print media by the Minister for Health in the mid-1980s were successfully countered by tobacco and advertising interests. From the early-1990s committed politicians, civil servants and public health advocates worked together and in the mid-1990s legislation was brought in that banned smoking in some public places (ISO, 1995). A key element in public health legislation is to secure all-party support and this was manifest in two publications of the Oireachtas (Irish Houses of Parliament) Joint Committee on Health and Children on tobacco issues ( JCHC, 1999, 2001). This insulated the