On the 20th anniversary of Ireland’s smoking ban, experts reflect on the society that facilitated the huge shift. 

Smoking indoors was banned in Ireland on March 29th, 2004, under then-Minister for Health Micheál Martin following prolonged debates about the right to smoke in public spaces. 

Tobacco Free Ireland founder Professor Luke Clancy told The Inside Track said Irish society defied expectations the ban would be ineffective. 

“Ireland had woken up,” he said. “At the time it was the Celtic Tiger and there was a kind of can-do feeling about it. 

“We knew that smoking, cancer, heart disease – but it was less clear until the mid-90s that secondhand smoke could kill you.” 

This realisation, according to Prof Clancy, made a lot more people realise the danger of smoking indoors, while also increasing awareness about the fact that not everyone smoked in the first place. 

Micheal Martin Fianna Fail Minister for Health at the announcement of the commencement date for the smoke-free workplace regulations 18/2/2004. Image: RollingNews.ie

Further research into secondhand smoking also increased concerns for people working in hospitality, Prof Clancy explained. 

“The workers the people in the bars were badly paid, they were they're subjected to secondhand smoke all day every day and nobody seemed to care,” he said. 

Vinters’ Federation of Ireland CEO Pat Crotty, a former publican, said running a pub before the smoking ban was a much smellier affair. 

“No matter how you clean the premises at the end of the day, you will arrive in in the morning to open up and you have this stale smell that you can’t get out,” he said. 

“An awful lot of publicans who railed against [the ban] very quickly said, ‘God, if they brought back indoor smoking, I wouldn't let it back into the bar’.” 

Smoking ban a 'confidence boost'

Broadcaster Barbara Scully agreed with Prof Clancy that the smoking ban in 2004 seemed to mark a shift in Irish culture. 

“To go back to a point that Luke made, I think at the time in 2004 when we had the Celtic Tiger – Ireland for the first time in my life, I remember thinking maybe we're not such a kind of backwards, inward facing country,” she said. 

“I think there was an element of us knowing we were the first country in the world to bring in this total ban and we were kind of proud of ourselves.” 

The Celtic Tiger offered a “confidence boost” to the Irish people, according to Ms Scully, that Ireland could be a more modern country. 

“As a small country with a relatively small population, we can put our minds to it and if it's sold right and the time is right,” she said. 

Prof Clancy pointed out, however, that “thousands” of people still die from diseases as a result of smoking every year and there is more work to be done.