A lone Galway pub has thrown down the gauntlet to the Irish government over its three-month-old ban on workplace smoking -- by inviting customers to rebel and light up.
"We're taking a stand," declared Ciaran Levanzin, co-owner of the Fibber Magee's pub in the central Eyre Square of Galway, where ashtrays returned to tables on Tuesday and customers were encouraged to puff away.
It marked the first deliberate effort by any of Ireland's more than 10,000 pubs to defy the ban. The measure has been almost universally observed -- and, in a country where 70 percent of adults do not smoke, broadly popular -- since its introduction on March 29.
However, Fibber Magee's rebellion proved hugely popular in Galway, a bustling university city famed for its night life.
RTE, Ireland's state broadcaster, reported live outside the pub on Tuesday night that the place was "absolutely crammed with drinkers and smokers," after which a huge roar of approval could be heard from the crowd inside watching the news.
Levanzin said he had already been obliged to lay off one-third of his workers since the ban came into force. He said more than half of the pub's previous customers had been smokers.
"Why do this? Because we're going out of business. We might as well go out with a puff of smoke," he said.
Health Minister Michael Martin led the push for the ban, arguing that anybody employed in enclosed workplaces should not be exposed to cancer-causing smoke. The move -- the first by any nation -- was modeled on similar measures imposed in California, New York and more than a dozen other US cities.
Inspectors from the government-appointed Western Health Board stopped by Fibber Magee's and warned the pub's other co-owner, Ronan Lawless, that they could face a US$3,700 fine and, eventually, the loss of their liquor license.
But Lawless said such punishment, if it comes to that, wouldn't matter.
"With the smoking ban, our business was going down the tubes anyway. We've no option but to invite our smoking customers back and see what happens," he said.
The Vintners Federation of Ireland, which represents more than 6,000 pub owners, said on Tuesday that business nationwide had fallen by 15 percent to 25 percent since the ban and predicted worse would come.
"Many small, rural, family-owned pubs have been hit particularly hard since the introduction of the ban and have serious concerns for their livelihoods and the future of their staff," said federation president Seamus O'Donoghue, who also runs a pub in the midlands market town of Portlaoise.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS