James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept totally the Deputy's bona fides in this matter. In an ideal world, there should be strong consequences for people who do not conform with our requirements. In fact, I expect there will be consequences for them, as I have highlighted. First, people will vote with their feet; second, they will draw the attention of the Child and Family Agency down upon that service provider; and, third, the latter may end up the subject of an investigation by the Health Information and Quality Authority. In addition, we already have inspection regimes in place to address these matters.

In terms of the Deputy's request that my Department examine the likely cost of his proposals, I will ask that it be done. However, I have a funny feeling it will point to a fairly large quantum of money. I do not want to cavil at every single point the Deputy is raising but he must agree that it is not just the idea of somebody coming into one's pub to inspect for ashes that made the smoking ban so successful. What ensured its success was the public support for it and the fact that if people see another person smoking in a pub or another premises in which he or she should not be smoking, they are not slow to point it out because they know the smoker is affecting the health of others detrimentally. The premise, which went through this committee, of banning smoking in vehicles where people aged under 18 are present, will be self-policing as much as it will involve the Garda. I am very confident of that.

However, I am open to the suggestion of there being other issues we might look to as the Bill progresses or indeed as we review it. Grant provision certainly will be affected if a service provider does not submit a statement. That is something that will be spread out across a whole host of organisations in a similar way to the proviso we attached to the recent provision to local authorities of funding for playgrounds, namely, that unless the playgrounds are to be tobacco-free areas, an application will not be considered in future. Like the Deputy, I would like to be as strong as we can be in this matter, but we also must be practical. At this moment in time, it seems to me more practical to deal with this on a name-and-shame basis. Today's discussion will highlight the fact that any facility to which people bring their children should have a child safeguarding statement.