Mr. Chris Macey:

We have written to the current and previous Ministers for Health, since Covid happened, about smoking in outdoor areas of pubs and restaurants. About four years after the workplace smoking ban was introduced, research was done which showed that as a result of that legislation there was a reduction of three deaths per day from acute coronary syndrome and stroke in the country. It is believed that the main impact was from the reduction in passive or second-hand smoking. It is a major issue. We wrote to local authorities around the country and we understand that Dublin City Council is going to provide that there will be no smoking in the public areas outside pubs. Several county councils that we wrote to have told us they would prefer national legislation on this rather than trying to deal with it individually. Some of the councils we have written to are doing it but others are not. We need a proper response on this.