Few publicans reported difficulties with drinkers and the Garda confirmed that the busy nights of Friday and Saturday passed off without a marked increase in call-outs.
Fears that the ban would drive thousands of smokers onto the streets leading to public-order offenses proved largely unfounded. Particular concerns were raised about Dublin’s Temple Bar area — the drinking location of choice for large numbers of stag parties from England.
Garda were also concerned that the ban would facilitate the selling of drugs outside pubs and clubs. Garda sources claimed prior to the ban that drug dealers would be able to mingle with smokers outside clubs without drawing attention to themselves or having to enter the premises.
It was not all good news, however. At least one medical practitioner in
Dublin said his surgery had treated several serious injuries which occurred among those smoking on the streets.
J. Cliff Beirne, consultant maxillofacial surgeon at Dublin’s St James’
Hospital, said 50 percent of the serious facial injuries he treated on Monday morning stemmed from fights or assaults among smokers over the weekend.
He said there was a marked increase in the number of jaw fractures suffered by drinkers who had left pubs to smoke on the street. He added that the smoking ban could lead to a “huge public order issue” and feared that the trend would continue over the coming weeks and months.
The Vintner’s Federation of Ireland, meanwhile, claims that takings in many bars in the border regions have already been hit. The VFI predicts that many family-owned pubs in areas like Donegal, which benefit largely from cross-border trade, would be forced to close.
The most high-profile breach of the new legislation came last week when
Fine Gael TD John Deasy lit up in the Dail bar. Deasy was subsequently relieved of his role as Fine Gael justice spokesman after admitting to smoking several cigarettes in the bar only days after the bill came into force.
Meanwhile, gardai have opened an investigation into an alleged disturbance at a Limerick hotel believed to be linked to the ban. A barman working in the Southcourt Hotel in Raheen was reportedly assaulted by a member of the public in the hotel’s Boru bar after asking him to stop smoking.
Also, a senior Garda has claimed that officers are “utterly confused” by how they are expected to police the new ban. The president of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, Joe Dirwan, told delegates at its annual conference in Cork that there had been no clear instructions from Garda headquarters as to how they should deal with the ban.