Tobacco.org

• Alcohol-free hotel bar owner seeks to reverse smoking ban 

THE WOMAN with Ireland's first alcohol-free hotel bar has launched a campaign to reverse the smoking ban in pubs.

Ann Sweeney said the first mission for her one-person New Ireland party is to seek to have luxury smoking rooms attached to pubs.

Ms Sweeney has issued a rallying call to smokers throughout Ireland to get in touch with her at her Carraig Rua hotel in Dunfanaghy, Co Donegal. She plans weekly meetings of supporters and aims to take the issue as far as the European Court if necessary.

She is encouraged by a recent judgment in Germany . . .

I find the Government's double standards fascinating. If it insists on raising revenue with heavy taxes on tobacco products, then there is an obligation that smokers be treated the same as drinkers and proper facilities should be put in place for them." . . .

She formed her New Ireland party after gardai seized all alcoholic drink in her hotel and pub because of a licence dispute.

Jump to full article »

Convictions for flouting smoking ban on the rise 

CONVICTIONS obtained under the smoking ban have jumped threefold, new figures reveal.

According to the figures, supplied by the Office of Tobacco Control, 16 convictions were obtained in 2004, with this figure hitting 49 in 2007. The smoking ban was brought in by former Health Minister Micheal Martin on March 29, 2004. Similar bans have since been introduced in countries such as Denmark and France.

Last year more than six convictions relating to incidents such as people smoking in front of publicans. Eleven related to people, like bar managers, permitting smoking in non-compliant outdoor smoking areas.

Jump to full article »

Cigarettes worth €2.2m seized  

REVENUE'S CUSTOMS officers have seized six million contraband cigarettes valued at some €2.2 million. The haul was found in the container of a lorry labelled fruit and vegetables after the container was collected from Rosslare Port, Co Wexford.

The seizure is one of the largest in recent times involving cigarettes being illegally smuggled into the State without taxes and duties being paid.

Jump to full article »

Cigarette firm reports €30.9 million Irish profit  

Cigarette manufacturer Gallaher recorded a €30.9 million profit last year for its Irish operation and showed a 3 per cent increase in turnover, despite a declining market. Gallaher (Dublin) Limited, based in Cookstown, reported that its turnover had risen to €714.8 million in the year ending December 31, 2007, up from €693.7 million a year earlier.

The company, which sells the Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut brands of cigarettes, recorded a €30.9 million profit, down from €32.2 million in 2006. . . .

The firm’s directors noted that the Irish cigarette market, which accounts for the bulk of its revenues, declined by 4.4 per cent during 2007, which it attributed to excise increases ahead of the rate of inflation.

It also blamed the shrinking market size on the increase of non-Irish duty paid cigarettes coming into the domestic market.

Jump to full article »

New rules for sale of cigarettes 

Stricter rules governing the sale of tobacco products are to be introduced on July 1, 2009, the Department of Health has announced.

From that date, retail premises will be banned from displaying tobacco products or from carrying any in-store advertising of these products. Retailers will have to introduce closed containers, which dispense the tobacco products.

According to the department, the location of prominent tobacco displays in retail outlets plays a role in promoting tobacco consumption.

"Its placement in proximity to everyday consumer goods such as newspapers and sweets helps tobacco to be seen as another benign consumer product. Research shows that tobacco advertising at the point of sale is a key factor in a young person starting smoking,", it said.

Jump to full article »

Majority Want Smoking Banned in All Homes 

A clear majority wants smoking banned in all homes, even if children are not present, and even if the smoke is not drifting into an adjoining dwelling.

This could expand the latest front in the war to protect nonsmokers, says the man who started the nonsmokers' movement by getting smoking first restricted and then banned on airplanes and then in workplaces and public places, and who is racking up victories in the battle to ban smoking in private dwellings and cars.

According to a new survey, 57% of the people in Ireland support a ban on smoking in all homes and cars.

This could indicate growing support for smoking bans both here and abroad, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) -- America's first antismoking organization, and the group behind restrictions on smoking in

homes in almost three fourths of the states -- because the percentage of smokers in Ireland is substantially higher than in the US.

Jump to full article »

Support to Stop Smoking in Homes and Cars 

A ban on smoking in homes and cars would be supported by the majority of Irish people, a new survey reveals.

The study, commissioned by Pfizer to investigate new ways of curbing smoking, revealed that 57% of people in Ireland would agree to a ban on smoking in homes and cars.

In addition:

80% of people would like to see further restrictions on the place of sale of tobacco products

Jump to full article »

• Smoking on rise again  

SMOKERS are on the increase in Ireland despite the introduction of the ban on lighting up in public places nearly three years ago.

The number of smokers reportedly fell from 33 per cent in 1998 to 27 per cent in 2002, but jumped alarmingly to 29 per cent last year, according to a survey published by Ireland's Department of Health.

Anti-smoking lobbyists ASH Ireland have called for a 50 cent increase in the cost of cigarettes, the removal of all smoking advertising from shops and huge investment in educating young people on the risks of tobacco.

Jump to full article »

• Shock smoking images exhibited 

Shocking graphic images of the effects of smoking displayed on cigarette packets across the world are currently on display in Dublin.

The photographs of varying severity including diseased lungs, throat tumours, spontaneous abortions, and rotting gums and teeth are on display in Dublin's Central Library at the ILAC Centre until June 20.

'The Power of Communications against Tobacco' exhibition shows 42 images approved by the European Union.

Jump to full article »

• Mitchell launches product to help smokers quit habit  

FAMILIES were urged to help relatives stub out smoking with a new product which, it was claimed, helps 60% of people kick the habit.

MEP Gay Mitchell presented the new Irish-produced quit smoking aid in the European Parliament. The company producing the product, NicoBloc, says it reduces the amount of tar and nicotine inhaled from smoked cigarettes.

Mr Mitchell said as a child he had only been weeks away from his sixth birthday when his father, 54, a smoker, died of lung cancer.

Two of his brothers and a sister, who were not smokers, have since died from cancer. . . .

NicoBloc is a liquid which users put on the filter of cigarettes. The substance traps tar and nicotine before it leaves the cigarette.

However, rather than acting as a substitute, like other smoke free products such as nicotine patches, it helps stops smoking.

Users add one drop on each cigarette in the first week, two on each one in the second and three in the third.

Jump to full article »

Harney to ban cigarette machines  

Health minister Mary Harney is close to introducing a ban on the sale of cigarettes through vending machines and the ending of in-store advertising for tobacco products.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said that Harney would shortly announce a commencement date to extend the Public Health Tobacco Acts 2002 and 2004, including a ban on all displays and in-store advertising of cigarettes and tobacco.

In a survey by the Office of Tobacco Control earlier this year, 92 per cent of shops visited had some form of tobacco advertisement on display.

The minister will also introduce legislation to allow for combined text and photo warnings on tobacco products. This is in addition to the ban on the sale of ten packs of cigarettes that came into force in May 2007, in an effort to curb smoking among young people.

Jump to full article »

Report: Air quality in NI bars 93% better 

Air quality in bars is 93 per cent cleaner a year after the smoking ban was introduced in Northern Ireland, according to new research published today.

Jump to full article »

Revenue raid seizes smuggled cigarettes 

A MASSIVE international cigarette-smuggling operation was dealt a major blow yesterday when Revenue Customs officers seized 30 million contraband cigarettes worth an estimated €11m.

The haul -- the biggest single seizure since 2002 -- included Palace and Silk Cut brands. They were concealed in four 40-foot containers which had arrived at Dublin port from Singapore and were destined for the Irish and UK markets.

A multi-agency international operation spanning several weeks and codenamed 'PALMAL' swung into operation after the containers were loaded onto a ship in Singapore on April 22.

Jump to full article »

38 pubs breached smoking ban in 2007 

A total of 38 pubs were prosecuted last year for breaching the smoking ban, according to the Office of Tobacco Control's annual report.

Nearly 29,000 inspections of workplaces were carried out by environmental health officers and 95% were found to be compliant.

Jump to full article »

Thirty-eight venues prosecuted over Irish smoke ban 

Thirty-eight pubs, hotels and restaurants in Ireland were prosecuted last year for breaches of the smoking ban, latest figures have revealed.

Out of 7,033 inspections of pubs, bars and clubs, 87 per cent of premises were compliant, the Office of Tobacco Control Annual Report 2007 showed.

Overall 43 cases were brought after a total of nearly 29,000 inspections of all workplaces by environmental health officers. Four cases related to taxi companies and one to a public building.

Jump to full article »