@Emmet O’Keeffe:

Saying “people will always smoke” is asinine when the claim isn’t that “we’ll get down to zero smokers”, it’s “we’ll bring it under 5% of the population”. The latter isn’t unrealistic at all – smoking rates have been steadily declining for quite some time.

Think “full employment” except it’s smokers.

@Malachi:
With the high numbers of teenagers currently taking up smoking, roll ups in particular, I would see 15% as a more realistic target but even that will be difficult to achieve.

@Emmet O’Keeffe:

Smoking cessations programmes all over the world have been working well so far to get down the number of smokers year on year. If we do it right 5% is very achievable, maybe not in FG’s timeframe I grant you.

Irish teens are smoking (and drinking) less nowadays by the way:
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/irish-teens-are-smoking-and-drinking-less-report-says-1.2798928

Here’s a mad idea. Why not offer incentives to retailers in the former of tax cuts not to sell cigarettes. And on top of that step up and get the HSE on board with vaping.

@Stíofán Ó Baoill: Red thumb

@Alan Ripley:

Driving is far more essential than smoking. But yes, we should work on reducing toxic emissions (improvements are made all the time).

I agree that we should reduce reliance on fossil fuels so that we don’t need to pump those carcinogens into the air. But again, central heating is far more necessary than your daily hit of nicotine.

As for the claim that there are more carcinogens pumped into the air by drivers than by smokers – how often have you inhaled car exhaust fumes like you have a plume of second hand smoke?

If you agree that both things are bad, why is that an argument that smokers should not get out of the way for non-smokers?

@Malachi: I cycle a bike to and from work during rush hour traffic. I often get home and can’t breath. Dublin bus are the worst because they clog bike lanes and you have to stand beside the exhaust until there’s any movement!

@Malachi: Everytime I’m out walking I inhale car fumes. And fossil fuels can be avoided by burning timber. Plenty of people have wood burning stoves now, but they fail to go the full hog and get one with a boiler which will heat rads – whether that’s down to expense or whether it’s down to them being lazy feckers who insist on the handiness of oil and gas, I don’t know. I burn timber only as I have a free source of it and cut it myself. I accept not everyone has that option.

I don’t accept the argument that the smoker should get out of your way, when he’s already outdoors and there’s plenty of room for you to walk away. Whether smoking is unhealthy or not, isn’t really the issue imo. Not in this case anyway. Personal space is the issue.

@Alan Ripley:

“fossil fuels can be avoided by burning timber”

Are you serious? Have you not read that wood burning is a serious health hazard to everyone in your house and around you? Carcinogens aren’t limited to fossil fuels. Wood burning emits compounds such as formaldehyde and benzene, among others, which are carcinogens.

https://www.epa.gov/burnwise/wood-smoke-and-your-health
http://pubs.rsc.org/is/content/articlehtml/2007/em/b614142k

Not sure why you thought that was a viable alternative to fossil fuel burning, but it’s arguably worse for you.

“I don’t accept the argument that the smoker should get out of your way, when he’s already outdoors and there’s plenty of room for you to walk away. ”

It’s the principle of entitlement here I don’t get – nobody is entitled to personal space to pollute the air because they feel like a hit of nicotine, or they shouldn’t be. If you MUST pollute the air, be considerate and go somewhere you aren’t affecting anyone else.

@Malachi: A dead, decaying tree releases more C02 than one that is burnt. C02 emissions are a major problem as I’m sure you know. That’s one of the reasons timber os favoured over fossil fuels.

When you get sick from cancer i hope you dont use up a hospital bed for long at the tapayers expense. Good display of intelligence to smoke.

@Alan Ripley: Totally agreed. At least somebody has stated that car fumes are more serious then smoking. There is no need for any further smoking bans to be introduced. The government should concentrate on the current problems like housing, health, roads, and particularly by-pass all towns to remove unessary traffic through. This will help the environment far better.

@Alan Ripley:

“A dead, decaying tree releases more C02 than one that is burnt. ”

Not true, see: https://www.wired.com/2016/04/senate-says-burning-trees-carbon-neutral-oh-really-now/

In fact, the UK Dept of Energy and Climate change studied the relative CO2 emissions of fossil fuels and wood when burnt and found that burning oil releases 377 kg of CO2 while burning woodchip releases 1501 kg of CO2 per MW h delivered energy.

(see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_fuel#cite_note-15)

(it’s CO2, not C02, by the way)

Anyway, we were talking about adverse health effects, in which case timber is absolutely horrific in terms of the carcinogens it emits.

@Malachi ,non smokers like you wreck the country for ppl like me that love to smoke ,, I love blowing smoke into non smokers faces , or even better let a person that gave them up stand next to me and I’ll chain smoke into there face as soon as they start with there tut tut shite ,,, ex smokers hate smokers because the smokers have the enjoyment that they will never have again ,,, Non or ex smokers should stick to the cafe’s and stay away from the pubs , there a total bore and at the end of the day all they do is walk into the smoking rooms anyway to smell the cigs ,,, Your a tut tut person ,,

@Aidan Frost ,, o Dont care ladooo,,

Stíofán wait till you quit and realise that even after you finished a smoke that you and your clothes smell like you rolled around in rotten cabbages and then pissed on yourself. Because that’s what you smell like.

@Brendan Hughes , I do not care man ,, I smoke and love smoking and the last thing I will do on this earth b4 I’m taken is smoke a big fat smoke man ,, happy out I

@Patrick Piss – Grow up. People choose to live heir life the way they do. Skiing is dangerous even cycling is dangerous. You know what, Life kills. Smokers pay a heavy financial tax, approx €9 a pack to the state, if the state cares so much, why doesn’t the state ban tobacco altogether ? The state banned other substances that are harmful that they don’t make revenue from. Will a smoker sue the state for being the biggest benefactor from a knowingly harmful product ?

@Farty Towels: Exactly, life is short, just enjoy it.

@tea biccies:

Goodbyeeeeeeeeeee moonman

@tea biccies:
Your update sucks.

@tea biccies:
your update sucks

@Alan Cooke: Your hoover sucks

@Crocodylus Pontifex: proving my point

I would also like to add my dissatisfaction at the change.

My red thumb is still there, so I’ve clicked it on your behalf despite not neccessarility agreeing with the sentiment.

@sup:
Red Thumb