Twenty pubs across Wicklow, Kildare and Dublin introduce areas where smoking is not allowed.
The pilot scheme has been drawn up by the Eastern Health Board (EHB) is expected to be extended to more pubs next year.
Since opening time today, twenty pubs across Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow have introduced specially designated no smoking areas.
One Dublin pub taking part is The Bird Flanagan in Rialto. Mary Van Lieshout, Health Promotion Officer at the EHB, points out that sixty per cent of pubgoers are in favour of a smoke free zone. She sees this scheme as part of a wider plan to introduce control tobacco. Publican Joe Duggan is confident that the move to restrict smoking will not have a negative effect on business. It offers customers a choice and is not a ban on smoking. People can still have a cigarette in other areas of the pub.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 29 November 1999. The reporter is Roisín Duffy.
