Smoking in all enclosed workspaces, including bars, restaurants and pubs, is to be banned in Ireland from Monday under new legislation aimed at reducing the 7,000 deaths linked to cigarettes each year.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Santa Monica would become the third -- and largest -- California community to ban smoking on its beaches under an ordinance tentatively approved by the City Council.
The Irish ban, the first of its kind in the EU, has been harshly criticized by the hospitality industry, which fears a loss of business if smokers turn away from Ireland's famous pub culture in favor of the freedom to light up at home.
Some bar owners say they will refuse to implement the legislation, despite fines of up to US3,600 dollars for allowing smoking on their premises, while others fear a surge in public order offences as late-night customers react angrily to requests to stub out their cigarettes.
Health Minister Micheal Martin, the architect of the ban, says the majority of people in Ireland are behind it.
"This important tobacco-free initiative has the support of the majority of people in Ireland, smokers and non-smokers alike," he told reporters during a final press briefing in advance of the ban.
"This is a positive, progressive health and safety measure, which will bestow positive benefits to workers and to the general public alike," Martin added, reiterating that despite the focus on how the new measures will affect pubs, the initiative is aimed at all indoor workplaces.
Meanwhile, some of the finer details of the ban remain clouded in confusion. Operators of in-pub vending machines are set to offer non-tobacco herbal cigarettes, at present exempt from the ban, in an effort to halt a drastic decline in profits.
Martin has dismissed the "herbal" option out of hand, while publicans are again incensed that they may be obliged to check whether customers' cigarettes are of the herbal or non-herbal variety.
Pub owners have been advised to remove all ashtrays from their premises.
The ban also covers vehicles regarded as an extension of the workplace, such as delivery vans, long-distance trucks and company cars, although health officials admit that policing the ban in this area may well prove impossible.
Among the few workplaces deemed exempt from the legislation are prisons, psychiatric homes and hotel and guesthouse bedrooms.
Charged with policing the ban from midnight on Sunday are a team of 41 Environmental Health Officers dedicated to tobacco control in the hospitality industry, backed by up to 400 colleagues with wider duties.
Santa Monica councilors voted 4 to 2 in favor of the no-smoking ordinance late on Tuesday, but must approve it in a second vote in about two weeks before it can become a rule. The ban would prohibit smoking along a 21km stretch of beach, on the city's pier except in designated areas and at bus stops.
Mayor Richard Bloom said the ban would improve public health and reduce pollution.
"We know that cigarette butts not only litter our community, but also leach out toxins into the sand, into the water, and that affects marine life," he said.
Resident Rena Alvarez spoke against the ordinance, suggesting the City Council establish smoking zones in beach areas rather than a complete ban.
"I think that it's a really touchy subject, telling people who have a Constitutional right that they can't do what they want," she said.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS