Smoked Out

Finally! The High Court has said that a "freshwall structure" used as a smoking room in many public houses around the country since the advent of the smoking ban in 2004 are illegal. I'm not sure exactly what a "freshwall" structure is, but I'm not surprised that smoking rooms have fallen foul of the legislation: most of them sail very close to the wind. The relevant law says that either 50% of the perimeter or the roof must be open to the elements if an area is to be considered exempt from the ban on smoking in the workplace.

Funnily enough, Mr Justice Roderick Murphy seemed to miss the point somewhat:

It did not seem to him that the structure concerned was "outdoor". It was not in the common sense "indoor", but was called an "indoor" structure.

"If any structure has a roof and doors then by its very nature it is indoor and not outdoor."

Whether the building was "indoors" or "outdoors" is beside the point. The critical elements are the roof and perimeter. The judge seems to have confused the two, going by that quotation. Nonetheless, this opens up a can of worms. Many of the smoking rooms around the country are, in my view, either not compliant with the legislation, or very close to non-compliance, though obviously not as outstandingly off-the-wall as the High Court example.

The problem for the Office of Tobacco Control and the Department of Health is that most Irish people seem happy with the solution: us non-smokers can sit, stand and dance smoke-free, joining our buddies for a blast of passive if we feel like it, and smokers get to puff away and whinge and moan with their fellow social lepers about the ostracisation they are subjected to. Irish solution to an Irish problem? Sure, but the OTC would be risking a good deal of political capital if it were to make an issue of this.