Ireland: Smoking Ban for Cars ''Is to Protect Children''

Source from:  Irish Examiner 12/21/2015

Smoking in cars where children are present will be outlawed from January 1 with offenders facing fixed fines of €100 and tougher penalties if caught breaking the new law by gardaí.

Ministers, health campaign groups and senators announced the start date for the new law, which comes after the successful introduction of banning smoking in the workplace.

James Reilly, the minister for children, pledged that gardaí would be able to police the new ban as he outlined how children's health would be saved from no longer inhaling toxic smoking fumes.

A health behaviour survey released by the Department of Health last week suggested that one in every five children is exposed to second-hand smoke in cars.

Mr Reilly said it would apply to all cars whether moving or parked. The burden of proof for fines or prosecutions will be the garda witnessing somebody smoking.

Even throwing a cigarette out the window would not help offenders as the word of the garda would suffice, said Mr Reilly. E-cigarettes though, will not be covered by the new ban as there was insufficient information about how this affected a child's health. If car occupants fail to stop or provide inaccurate details they will face tougher penalties, including a fine of up to €1,000.

Mr Reilly said tougher US-style measures to rule out smoking in public places, such as in parks, on beaches or near schools, could be decided by local authorities and would be enforced in some areas, including his own of Fingal, Co Dublin.

However, he said the new ban in cars was part of "de-normalising smoking for young people". The new legislation was introduced by senators John Crown, Jillian van Turnhout and Mark Daly in the last two years. It was subsequently signed into law by Health Minister Leo Varadkar who succeeded Mr Reilly in Health.

"Second-hand smoke is particularly harmful to children in enclosed spaces, such as cars," said Mr Varadkar.

Second-hand smoke contains 4,000 chemicals, more than 50 of which cause cancer. The legislation was passed last Christmas. However, gardaí requested more time to implement the new proposals. A fixed fine of €100 will be issued by gardaí to those found smoking in a car with minors. Offenders will have 28 days to pay after which the amount rises to €150. If this in turn is not paid within 56 days, a prosecution can be initiated.

Ash Ireland welcomed the new ban. However, Forest Éireann, funded by tobacco companies, said the new ban would be "unenforceable".

Spokesman John Mallon said: "Gardaí surely have better things to do than stop drivers on suspicion they may be smoking with a child on board."

Meanwhile, Mr Reilly confirmed that the Government will learn if its move to outlaw tobacco branding here will be blocked or not by an EU ruling next week.

Tobacco companies claim an EU directive-which Ireland is using to introduce plain packaging on cigarette packets-is against free movement of goods in the union and the principle of 'subsidiarity', where issues are decided by states rather than by the EU.

On December 23, the the European Court of Justice will give a preliminary judgement in the case Philip Morris and British American Tobacco have against the EU directive. Enditem