Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Nobody could argue with the facts Senator Crown has put forward. The more those facts are taken into consideration by smokers the better. I am not in a great position to lecture on the subject because I have never smoked but I do not support the motion for the reasons Senator van Turnhout and other speakers have outlined. I would be happy to support a situation whereby the smoking areas were hidden. One or two of the areas are hidden currently but the most public ones are outside the door of the annexe and outside the front door of the main building. I would be happy to support the designation of non-visible areas for smoking, as was the case in the school I attended.

From speaking to smokers and former smokers I know that it is a difficult addiction to give up. As Deputy Ó Caoláin said, it is not against the law. Perhaps a campus-wide ban is something that might be considered possible in years to come, but it would be too much of an imposition on those who do smoke in and around these premises. I would be happy to support an aggressive visual campaign against smoking within the confines of Leinster House and for designated smoking areas to be hidden, but to introduce a total ban on smoking would be a step too far for those people who smoke.