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Love blooms in smoke-free Ireland

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

Irish Health Minister Micheal Martin, who introduced the ban joked, about the new way of making new friends while on a visit to Norway, which in June becomes the second nation in the world after Ireland to outlaw smoking.
“The major social phenomenon that has arisen from this, I’m told, is a new type of dating,” he told a Reuters reporter in Oslo last week. “Outdoors is apparently the place to touch base, to make contact.” Joking, he said he hoped people would not now start smoking in order to get a date.
Martin also referred to controversial New York City Department of Finance statistics that show the bar industry in the city has increased its business after the smoke ban, saying similar statistics in Ireland would show a similar result.
But New York lobby groups opposing the ban on behalf of bar owners say the figures cited by Martin are nonsense. Recently a New York City Department of Finance spokesperson admitted that of the businesses surveyed, only 10 percent were bars that served only drinks — Starbucks, McDonalds and other non-smoking food outlets were also surveyed.
In Ireland, a survey released by the Office of Tobacco Control shows widespread support for the ban.
“The successful introduction of the new measure reflects the widespread public support and good will that exists for a healthy, smoke-free environment in the workplace,” Martin said on Monday. The survey also showed compliance with the ban to be about 96 to 97 percent. The survey also showed that one in five smokers chose not to smoke at all while out socializing.
The Restaurant Association of Ireland agreed with Martin’s statements and said its members have not suffered any reduction in business as a result of the workplace smoking ban.
Spokesman Aidan McManus said today that the association was happy with the measure.
“From our own personal knowledge, business has been the same as last year,” he said. “As a restaurant association, we’re very happy in general with the no smoking. It makes [a restaurant] a much nicer place to eat food.”
Many bar owners in New York say business has slumped since the ban, an opinion echoed in Lexington, Ky., where the recent smoking ban received support from bar owners who have now said they see a serious downturn in business.
But Lexington restaurant owner and Vice Mayor Mike Scanlon has been one of the most vocal supporters of the smoking ban. He says the current slump is just a seasonal curve. He thinks people will adjust to the change.

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