The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Royston Brady, has said Ireland should take a lesson from New York in enacting the smoking ban gradually, where it took nearly 10 years to implement.
Mr Brady was speaking at the launch yesterday of units for disposing of cigarette butts. The bins, designed by Dublin-based company Environet, are wall-mounted disposal containers that extinguish cigarettes once dropped inside.
He said New York started talking about a ban when he lived in the city in 1994, and it was not officially adopted until this past year. "It actually has taken that long to bring it in over there - which is nearly 10 years - so I don't see how we're going to bring it in overnight over here.
"Particularly the culture in Dublin is totally different than in the States, whereas we do have a pub culture over here: 85 per cent of people regularly socialise in bars in Dublin; 25 per cent of New Yorkers do. So I think there's a total difference there."
Mr Brady reiterated he would prefer to see the smoking ban in pubs phased in slowly rather than the drastic overnight change as planned.
The Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, indicated earlier this week that the ban will come into force on January 1st, despite opposition by more than 20 Fianna Fáil TDs at a parliamentary meeting on Tuesday.
Mr Brady said the Environet model would go a long way in helping to clean up Dublin's streets. The cigarette disposal units are an alternative to throwing butts on the ground, an offence punishable by a €125 fine.
Mr James Proctor of Environet said: "What we're providing really is a socially and environmentally responsible solution for people to put their cigarette butts away."
He said the units were intended for "anywhere and everywhere where people smoke and will not be allowed to smoke in the future", namely pubs, workplaces, shopping centres and restaurants.