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A BILL TO ban smoking in cars where children are present will go before the Dáil next week, it was confirmed this morning.
One of the three Senators who initiated the bill, Mark Daly of Fíanna Fáil, told TheJournal.ie he expected it to pass into law quickly next week.
It took us two years to pass this in the Seanad, but when we did we had the support of [Children's] Minister Reilly, and the government.
Any amendments to the bill were already added, so we’re expecting quick passage with cross-party support.
Daly, along with Independent Senators Jillian van Turnhout and Professor John Crown, first introduced a draft of the ban back in April 2012.
However, it didn’t pass through the Seanad until two years later, something Daly attributed to the “fine technical detail” in the text.
We sought legal advice regarding the constitutionality of the ban, and in relation to EU law, road safety law, and we consulted with the Departments of Justice and Health.
We’re confident the law can and will be enforced by the Gardaí, but it’s not so much about handing out fines, but more about public awareness.
The Kerry-based Senator said many people simply didn’t know the harms associated with smoking in the presence of children.
The statistics are that smoking in a car next to a child for an hour does the same damage as a firefighter being exposed to a forest fire for eight hours.
Read the bill in full here:
http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2014/10/b38b12s.pdf
The Protection of Children’s Health (Tobacco Smoke in Mechanically Propelled Vehicles) Bill, as passed in the Seanad on 17 April, would outlaw the following:
The smoking by a person (including a child) of a tobacco product in a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place and in which a child (or another child if the person smoking is a child) is present…
If the person smoking is a passenger, the driver would also be guilty of an offence, punishable by a fixed charge notice.
Similarly to Ireland’s seat-belt laws, Gardaí would be authorised to stop a vehicle where they believe a child is present while someone is smoking.
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The most interesting thing I heard today was Peter Mandelson being interviewed with Nigel Lawson on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme. He said that he only met her once after he was appointed Secretary for Northern Ireland.
She came up to him and said “You cannot trust the Irish. They are all liars. Just do not forget it.”
If true it says a lot about Thatcher. I say if true, after all it was Peter Mandelson.
If she was referring to the politicians (most likely as they were the only irish she would have dealt with), could anyone disagree?
In the same interview, he also said
“Lord Mandelson, one of the central architects of New Labour, has criticised the scale of the funeral but accepted the Iron Lady “reframed British politics”.
“I think what she was right to do was to bring home to us the reality that Britain could not afford rampant inflation, that state monopolies needed commercialising, that personal tax rates were too high and that enterprise was too unrewarding,” he said.
“She was also right to argue that deregulation can be a valuable spur to innovation and efficiency and of course she tackled what was then a very disruptive and irresponsible trade union culture.
“But the truth is also that in cutting back the state necessarily, she overlooked what the state can also do successfully.”
She was referring to Haughey and his ilk. To suggest CJH was untrustworthy. God forbid!
We’ve all made our opinions one way or another over the week. Time to move on….she gone!
No but her policies are more alive than ever. Thats what i think most people have an issue with.
Agreed, but she’s gone..
man, cameron has a beor of a wife
Ye would never think she’s had four kids….homina homina.
My hate for her has died with her.
Seemed pretty dignified to me
A charade foisted on the British people. A unique opportunity for the Establishment to exert their authority over the common man. The usual plethora of people dressed in funny hats, wigs and medieval garb. It seemed fitting that the chief mourner was a convicted criminal and the church had the required smattering of right wing politicians, homophobics and reactionaries. Wonder what the old queen said to Philip as the coffin passed her by? She didn’t seem too happy with the whole shebang. Anyway, as someone said above, it’s over and as the incumbent government has not experienced the Thatcher bounce, hopefully Thatcherism, which has blighted so many people’s lives has heard its death knell.
We’ve literally heard the death knell but Cameron and his cohorts are attempting to outdo her.
Surely the best way to protest the iron lady’s funeral would be to show up with a giant magnet?
Yeeeeeugh – a monster.
A who’s who of war criminals and tyrants attended. Solve a lot of the worlds problems by sending half of the people there with her.
They can’t all be like sunshine and ice cream like El Comandante Hugo Chavez now can they?
Chavez a war criminal amd tyrant?? Good one. Come back 2 me when u know what the f**k ur talking about.
300,000 dead people. He killed them. The man was a tyrant.
Explain how he killed 300,000 people ?
You should say PINOCHET instead
I think the initial hype of the hatred towards her has faded during the week and these “rot in hell” people have become tiresome. She’s dead and that it end if story!
Margaret Thatcher is dead,when did this happen ???
Everyone will come, everyone will come
To her funeral to make sure that she stays dead
Everyone will come, everyone will come
To her funeral to make sure that she stays dead, dead DEAD
(Marilyn Manson – Rusted Horses )
Does anybody know who was invitied from Ireland?
Ruairí Quinn I think….
Go dté tú Slán
“There was twice as many security as mourners with some 4,000 police officers deployed at the event”
250,000 people turned out to mourn and pay their respects [ plus a handful of misfits].
The unattended crowd barriers (photo 2) would remind you of a certain other individual’s funeral…. closer to home?? Maybe they’ll be comparing turnout figures tonight…
have your say