Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)

I also thank the Minister. We have spoken on this issue many times. As someone who never smoked I ran a public house up to ten years ago. One of the reasons I retired was because I felt I was being affected by passive smoking. The one issue that was not conclusive was ventilation. While it was not proven that ventilation in pubs could have done away with passive smoking I was concerned that much money was being spent on the insertion of vents in public houses. I felt that with other legislation on the horizon publicans should not have to go to this expense when ultimately it did not matter.

I pay tribute to the Minister. I attended a convention on cannabis smoking and it highlighted for me the dangers of tobacco smoking because more people have died from smoking tobacco — including passive smoking — than were killed in the two world wars of the last century. Tobacco has only been a feature of modern day society for little over 200 years. This legislation is welcome. Anything that gets rid of the blight of the harmful effects of tobacco is good.