Irish pub workers breathe easier after smoking ban
By Patricia Reaney, Reuters    September 18, 2005    

Ireland's nationwide ban on smoking in all workplaces has not only cleaned up the air in pubs and restaurants, it has also improved the health of the people who work there, researchers said on Sunday.

Since Ireland became the first country in the world to impose the ban nationwide in March 2004, other countries and cities have followed its example.

Professor Luke Clancy, an expert in respiratory disease at Trinity College, Dublin, has shown that particulate matter in the air, which is a feature of smoke pollution, in pubs has decreased and workers are breathing better.

"This is the first time that we have measured the pollution and measured the effects," Clancy said in an interview.

"We found a dramatic decrease in particles. There is something like a 70 percent decrease in particles in the pub and that makes it quite similar to outdoor air in Dublin, which is quite good."

Clancy and his colleague Dr Patrick Goodman measured particles in more than 40 pubs before the ban was enforced and a year afterwards to gauge its impact.

In research presented at the European Respiratory Society meeting in Copenhagen, they said levels of two types of particles, PM2.5 and PM10, had fallen by 53 percent and 87.6 percent over the course of a year. They also recruited 81 male bar workers and measured their lung function before and a year after the ban became law. The men also answered a questionnaire about their health and smoking habits.

"We found a 30-40 percent decrease in symptoms, both respiratory and irritant," said Clancy, referring to shortness of breath, coughs and water eyes. Lung function in the non-smokers also improved but it continued to deteriorate in smokers.

A study in Norway, in which restaurant and bar workers were interviewed on the telephone, showed similar improvements in health after a smoking ban was introduced there.   

After the smoking ban . . . it's back to the pub as sales jump
Paul Melia, The Irish Independent,  September 14, 2005    
 

OFF-LICENCE sales are falling and Irish drinkers are returning to the pub, new figures from the Central Statistics Office released yesterday show.

Sales of beer, wine, spirits and food in pubs rose by 1.1pc in July 2005 compared with the previous month, showing an annual increase of 5.8pc.

 At the same time, off-licence sales fell by 5pc between June and July, showing a slight annual decrease of 0.1pc.

The Retail Sales Index published yesterday shows the increase, or decrease, in the volume and value of sales of a number of items including food, alcohol, clothing, hardware, books, newspapers, and other staples.

The index shows that the value of sales in pubs is at its highest level since January 2003, one year before the smoking ban came in, with an increase in the volume of sales of 7.4pc since the beginning of the year.

Although pub sales have fallen during the same period, inflation and price increases had led to the value of sales increasing. A CSO spokesperson said that pub sales had been falling before the smoking ban was introduced but were now recovering.

The Vintners' Federation of Ireland and the Licensed Vintners' Association, which represent Irish publicans, were not available to comment.

The index also shows that overall retail sales grew in volume by 4.9pc between July 2004 and 2005 with a slight monthly increase of 0.3pc.