Eddie Bohan (Fianna Fail)

That is another issue. I do not know how these proposals could be enforced without major difficulties – verging on riot situations – arising in these pubs.

An individual in New York was stabbed to death when he interfered with somebody who was smoking. I hope that will never happen here. It will be difficult to police the no smoking ban in pubs with 600 or 700 customers where eight or ten individuals who are sitting together drinking decide to smoke. I hate to think of what might happen if a barman tried to enforce the no smoking rule in such circumstances. This is one area about which I am concerned. I hope that, in all pubs – but particularly large establishments – small areas will be designated for committed or chain smokers to allow them to smoke away from the presence of the remainder of the patrons and the bar staff.

We carried out a survey recently in which it was found that 70% of staff in public houses in Dublin smoke. At present, the owners of some establishments are being obliged change work rosters in order to ensure that staff who do not smoke do not have to work with those who do.

There are the small, country pubs where, for generations, people have gone after working on the farm all day and lit a pipe or smoked a cigarette. I do not know how a publican in such an establishment will approach someone he has known for 30 or 40 years and inform them they are no longer entitled to smoke there. That will create major problems. Most of those pubs would be able to set aside space to allow the people to whom I refer to smoke and not bother anybody else.