Madam, - A tiny minority of people in Britain are engaged in hunting. Yet they opposed what they regard as an unfair law with maximum publicity, they always refer to the ban as temporary, and they have found creative ways to continue pursuing a cherished lifestyle which involves whole communities. They fight to maintain what they believe in.
In Ireland, between one-quarter and one-third of all adults smoke. Most of them used to enjoy visiting the pub and cherished a convivial lifestyle with other members of their community. A discredited health minister's one achievement was to mislead the nation about passive smoking. And people here have lain down and surrendered while the life of pub and community ebbs.
Protests and representations about the nasty Irish experience - and reviews of the inconclusive medical data - have stopped proposed bans in pubs and clubs in England and Wales and Portugal; I dare say such better informed counsels will prevail elsewhere in Europe.- Yours, etc.,
HARRY DAVIES, An Spidéal, Co na Gaillimhe.