There were 43 cases taken for breaches of the smoking ban last year, including 38 against licensed premises, according to figures published today.
The Office of Tobacco Control's (OTC) annual report for 2007 said compliance with the ban on smoking in workplaces is now at 95 per cent. However, it warned against complacency and said the issue of children and smoking must also be tackled.
Some 28,982 inspections were carried out last year by environmental health officers checking compliance.
Of the 43 cases taken, some 38 were in respect of licensed premises, four related to taxi companies and one was in relation to a public building. A total of 49 convictions were obtained on the charges brought, the OTC said.
A total of 676 calls were made to the smoke-free compliance telephone line.
Health officers also carried out 684 ‘test purchases’ of cigarettes to ensure they were not being sold to minors. A total of 20 cases were successfully prosecuted.
OTC chief executive Éamonn Rossi said that the ongoing success of the smoking ban here had “led the momentum towards smoke-free workplaces in 14 countries”.
He said it was “particularly pleasing” to see the island of Ireland go smoke-free in 2007 with the introduction by the Northern Ireland Assembly of comprehensive smoke-free legislation.
Mr Rossi said the legislation here is now “well embedded” and that the attention of his office was now turned to tackling the issue of children and smoking.
"The evidence is clear that half of all lifetime smokers will die from a tobacco related disease. Therefore it is critical that we continue to focus on protecting young people from tobacco in society and prevent them from taking up smoking in the first place,” he said.
Mr Rossi said the priority for his office is to continue working with the Department of Health towards the removal of point-of-sale tobacco advertising in shops and the establishment of a register of tobacco retailers.