Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to follow up on what I said here last week about the need for reusable coffee cups. I should have asked the Leader to write to the catering services in Leinster House. When I was in a Butlers coffee shop recently, I was delighted to see that a customer can receive a free coffee when he or she buys a reusable coffee cup. I think that is very positive. The Leader could suggest Butlers to the catering services as a source for these cups.

It is great that there is a renewed emphasis on encouraging people to stop smoking. Today is Ash Wednesday, a day on which we traditionally highlight the need for people to protect their health by giving up smoking. Much has been done in this country. To his eternal credit, Deputy Micheál Martin introduced the smoking ban in pubs, which was revolutionary at the time. Our colleague, Senator Reilly, accepted a Private Members' Bill that banned smoking in cars when young children are present. I think we should go a step further by banning smoking at bus stops, outside railway stations and within a certain distance of the front gates of schools, community centres and youth clubs. Vulnerable people and others should not have to contend with cigarette smoke when walking out the gates of public buildings. No parent with a child should have to pass a group of people smoking when walking out the gate of the school. I am seriously considering introducing a Private Members' Bill that would ban smoking within a certain distance of schools, bus stops, hospitals and other community and voluntary facilities. We have achieved a lot through the introduction of no-smoking zones, but we still have some distance to go. I am delighted to inform the House of this proposal on Ash Wednesday.