Newly-appointed Minister for Health Simon Harris has insisted that Ireland’s smoking ban will not be relaxed despite Finian McGrath’s opinion that the ban should allow for designated, indoor smoking areas.
McGrath, who is a Minister of State at the Health Department, had said that the system of designated indoor smoking areas works in Germany and that his own “personal, private” opinion was that the ban could be relaxed.
Harris has put paid to that idea today, saying that Ireland’s smoking bad had been a success, and that he was committed to the goal of a tobacco-free Ireland by 2025.
McGrath conceded that he would support the government’s position the smoking ban, according to the Irish Times, as well as policies that would see the price of cigarettes go up.
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