'We have won the war on smoking, but I draw the line at outdoor ban'

I’ve reached a stage in life where I am prone to loudly and proudly regale young people about stories of the olden days, and how different things used to be.

Of course, my own kids couldn’t give a toss about my meanderings, but captive audiences have no choice but to listen and nod along politely.

One such captive audience was a group of Transition Year students who were having a day in our office recently, and were plonked down next to me.

After I had given them a quick run-through of our working day, I told them how much change I had seen in journalism in my 38 years.

“Offices today are so quiet,” I began, “they used to be so noisy, with the clatter of typewriters and even the printing press next door. People would be shouting, sometimes even arguing, about deadlines or such-like. The odd journalist would return from lunch decidedly tipsy...” All this (only slightly exaggerated) reminiscing provoked mild interest from my audience, but my next comments left them stunned and shaking their heads in disbelief.

“...and nearly everyone smoked in the office. I think we felt it came with the job on a newspaper. There would be clouds above desks, the smokers would be coughing, and the non-smokers would soon be too.” Before I had a chance to tell them about my novelty ashtray - a decommissioned World War I shell (no exaggeration!) - and about the health correspondent (no exaggeration!) who never bought his own cigarettes and cadged from his colleagues all day - the students had exploded in shock and indignation.

“That’s just terrible!” they raged.

Of course, they were dead right, and it is remarkable how few people recognised that in the ’80s and ’90s, and how disgusting it seems now.

Even then, the health effects of smoking had been well-documented for decades, and packets contained warnings about the perils the habit caused.

I do recall a few lone voices who began to call for a ban on smoking in the offices, and the pushback they received from some of the 40-a-day addicts. They were labelled whatever the word for ‘snowflake’ was back then.

Slowly, but surely, reason won out and change came, and soon after smoking was banned in my office, I kicked the weed myself - I wouldn’t have managed it until then.

A few years later, then Health Minister Micheál Martin boldly took the next step and banned smoking in all enclosed workplaces, including pubs and restaurants.

That was 21 years ago, and many European countries followed our lead. It may well remain the Cork TD’s greatest legacy when he eventually retires from politics.

I was reminded of the long, hard battle to stub out cigarettes in society this week when two stories caught my eye.

First, I was delighted to see a survey which showed that children are less likely to smoke in Ireland than in any other European country.

Fewer than 2% of children aged 11-15 said they smoked every week, compared with 18% in the Netherlands, who topped the table.

Believe me, I reckon that figure was about 50% when I was that age.

Of course, there is no room for complacency, but we do appear to have cigarettes on the run, and there is good reason to hope the figure will keep on falling towards zero in the years ahead.

The bigger concern now is the use of vapes by young people, and I have written here before about the need for legislation to prevent companies from marketing these products at them.

Micheál Martin has called it “the revenge of the tobacco industry” so let’s hope he remains vigilant about the threat of vaping to the health of Irish people, young and old, while he is in a position of power.

Even so, there are grounds for optimism that we have banished the even more serious threat of cigarette smoking to the sidelines of Irish life.

As the reactions of those TY students demonstrated, it’s hard to believe now how prevalent smoking used to be - in cinemas, on buses, on planes, and of course in pubs.

Non-smokers used to complain about the smell of stale tobacco on their clothes after a night out, but the damage done to their lungs was the hidden cost far too many paid.

The cost to the smokers can no doubt be seen at graveyards up and down the land.

It’s amazing how long it took to turn around the popularity of smoking, testament to the power of the tobacco industry. In 1957, the first warning was given about its effects, in the U.S, and a connection with lung cancer and other cancers was firmly established. A year later - a full 60 years ago next month - the UK government declared a ban on cigarette advertising on TV.

It took decades of warnings and laws to get to a situation where the smoking rate in Ireland is now just 16%.

One of the biggest weapons in that fight has been the constant tax rises on cigarettes. I was shocked to see that the €1 increase in the recent budget for a packet of 20 had sent the price up to a ruinous €18.05.

Now that is an expensive habit.

The war on smoking continues unabated. In the UK, a bill has been drawn up aimed at creating a smoke-free generation, banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone aged 15 or younger - a ban which will remain in price as they get older.

They are also hoping to bring the smoking ban to some outdoor areas, in children’s playgrounds and outside schools and hospitals.

All of this seems to be common sense. However, I wonder can we be too Draconian as we seek to banish cigarettes forever?

This week, a new law in Milan, Italy, prohibited smoking in all outdoor public spaces, including streets, with the exception only of isolated areas where smokers are at least 10m away from others.

Anyone flouting the ban faces a fine of between €40 and €240.

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

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

“I would firmly support it. 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.

“If we can reduce down the rate of smoking, it is the single biggest thing we can do for the health of the nation.” Cllr Sheehan’s stance will have many supporters, but I sense this is a step too far.

The Milan ban, bizarrely, does not include the far more common use of vapes and electronic cigarettes, and there are also concerns about how it will be enforced by the authorities.

We’ve got smokers on the run, but these last-gasp efforts to stub them out are simply a tad ‘Big Brother’.