Voters frequently demand that politicians should be imaginative, brave and radical. Until they are, that is. Then the trouble often starts, as Michael Martin may soon find, writes Mark Hennessy
From January 1st, smoking is supposed to end in the Republic's pubs and restaurants under the Public Health (Tobacco) Act 2002. Not everybody knows that. Yet. The law, however, is one thing. Implementing it in little Midland pubs, or some of the God-awful superpub monstrosities common in urban areas, is a different matter.
For months the issue has exercised some minds within the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party, which is ever sensitive to the mood swings of the publicans of the land.
An assault against it was planned in March by a group led by Tipperary South TD, Noel Davern, and by Senator Eddie Bohan, who is deeply involved in the Dublin licensed trade. The rebellion should have led to Parliamentary Party rumbles in April, though that never happened. But a motion will be brought forward in late September, the group now say.
From January 1st, publicans and restaurants will be fined for breaches, and persistent offenders will see their licence disappear behind a District Court bench. Smokers will also be fined.
The legislation is to be enforced by health board environmental health officers and Office of Tobacco Control inspectors, though the Garda will also have a role to play.
In theory, it should be a doddle for the Minister.
The majority today are non-smokers. Just 32 per cent of Irish males and 31 per cent of females light up, though the figures for the young - particularly girls - are, disturbingly, over 40 per cent. Not all non-smokers, admittedly, hate cigarette smoke. A few even like it. But most don't. Certainly, most ex-smokers, infused with a convert's zeal, are obnoxious about the noxious weed.
However, some "non-smokers" are less than politely referred to as "OPs" by smokers, i.e. they cadge other people's cigarettes on Friday but still regard themselves as pure come Monday.
Nevertheless, Martin is on the side of the majority, as reflected by opinion polls - though it is far from clear if a majority of those who actually go to pubs are of equal mind.
The billows of smoke from the outraged are already rising. Vintners say it is unworkable, and will leave barmen at risk of attack. Vocal and fuming smokers threaten disobedience.
Unfortunately smokers, and here I declare an interest because, alas, I am one, have a problem. Nobody, other than the most ignorant clod, would argue that one should be allowed to smoke in hospitals.
Smoking there has been banned since 1996. Dire predictions were offered back then that bingo halls and hairdressing businesses would collapse, but they, too, survived the smoking in public places ban. Not many smokers would even argue that they should be allowed to smoke at work, as long as a reasonably convenient, and occasionally fumigated, smoking room is offered.
But bars, lounges, restaurants are the workplaces of the staff employed there. If smoking is a health and safety risk for office workers, then the same logic has to apply. Logic, however, does not cover everything.
People frequenting bingo halls and hairdressers are different in one major way from those piled six deep at the bar. They are sober.
Though the Minister's direction will be difficult to execute in practice, if not impossible in many places, the pro-smoking lobby's compromise formula is no more practical.
Noel Davern argues that larger pubs could be divided - the bar for smokers and the lounge for others - while smaller premises could better ventilate smoking areas. While customers might accept the lounge/bar divide at a push, the solution does little for lounge staff, while dividing up smaller pubs is simply a recipe for provoking brawls.
Certainly, the simplest solution is for smokers to go outside. The habit has already created new social circles on New York pavements, though Manhattan residents complain that they now cannot get any sleep because of street noise.
New York, however, is not Ireland. For a start we drink more, or at least some do. Equally, significant numbers here are not likely to accept orders to leave their drink inside.
Secondly, drink-induced public order offences, if they happen, quickly attract a whack of a baton in New York. Here it can be difficult late at night to find a blue uniform. Even if they do appear, gardaí will be occupied for hours by just one disturbance. Is anybody seriously arguing that they will be able, or even interested in monitoring every pub doorway?
So what will happen come New Year's Day? Early on, the law will be widely ignored. Publicans will take the ashtrays off counters and worry about holes in the carpets.
In time, fines will arrive and non-smokers will get vocal. The better-run pubs in the better-off areas will obey the law more and more, helped by occasional inspections.
Pubs in tougher areas will ignore it, or at least their customers will - regardless of the desire for a smoke-free environment by many of those standing around them.
Inspectors will not appear in such places too often. They are likely to have more sense than to tell a gurrier with a dozen pints onboard that he should stub out his fag.