Follow Milan's lead and ban smoking outdoors, says Cork councillor 

A Cork city councillor and GP has said Ireland should consider an outdoor smoking ban similar to that introduced in the Italian city of Milan from the start of 2025.

The new law prohibits smoking in all public spaces, including streets, with the exception only of isolated areas where smokers are at least 10m away from others.

The smoking ban at the moment only concerns tobacco products, while the use of electronic cigarettes is permitted.

Those who defy the new ruling in the Italian city could be fined between €40 and €240.

Natural step

Cork City North West Councillor John Sheehan of Fianna Fáil, a GP by profession, told The Echo this is something Ireland should consider.

“When Ireland was the first country to introduce a workplace ban [in 2004], at the time there was a lot of opposition to that,” he said.

“I think this is the natural next step to try and reduce down the rate of smoking because it can really make a difference.

“I would firmly support it. Ireland has a smoking rate of 16%, and it is slowly coming down.

“But if you look at other countries like Sweden, they are the first country to get their smoking rate down to below 5%, which is fantastic.

“Outside public streets, outside offices, and other areas you obviously see people smoking.

“If we can reduce down the rate of smoking, it is the single biggest thing we can do for the health of the nation.

“It is like any of these big changes, there is always opposition to it.

“But then once you get used to it and once you adjust to it, if you asked people now to go back to it and having smoking in the workplace, I think nearly everybody would say no.

“In Ireland it requires national legislation, unfortunately. But it is something certainly we should seriously look at as a nation.”