Fibber Magee's breaking the smoking ban

A

alfraits

Guest
Big news this morning about the pub in Galway handing out the ashtrays and having a smoking party last night. They think they are heroes. The place should be closed down immediately and the manager/proprietor thrown in jail in case others are encouraged to do the same. The pub owners have been moaning a lot lately about lost business and recent statistical info suggests that people are drinking less. If the pubs are losing business so much the better. We have been overindulging in recent years and any measures that would reduce consumption of alcohol should be welcomed. If up to a quarter of licensed premises go out of business we should welcome this as a return of sanity to a country that has gone mad in its pursuit of its favourite drug.

The government should crush any revolt against the smoking ban and hold its nerve until Britain and other states introduce a ban on smoking in all work places. For once we are setting the trend. We should not lose our nerve.

Finally, all pubs using stage Irish names should be boycotted.
 
I wouldn't like to see this guy go out of business personally, but the point is everyone's in the same boat.

It's a free market so he needs to find other ways to attract custom. Like everyone else has.

As far as I know he doesn't serve any food at the moment.
 
I doubt if the guy who owns this pub is in any danger of going out of business. He owns a hotel and several other pubs in Galway.

The side of Eyre Square where this pub is located has been a building site for the last few months as the Council are completely revamping the square. Many of the local businesses adjacent to this pub have been complaining of lost revenues as a result.
 
downturn

The figures released this week show that we bought a lot less booze in 2003 than 2002 so the publicans have a hard neck in blaming the smoking ban for fewer punters.If they weren't so greedy in continually jacking up prices they might get more sympathy.Every time theres a government or producer price increase the publicans also had an extra rise to keep their margins.
This guy in Galway is saying a lot now but he'll change his tune when he starts getting hit with 3k fines.
 
Re: downturn

but he'll change his tune when he starts getting hit with 3k fines
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Hope he rues his decision when his licence comes up for review.
 
Re: downturn

The smoking ban suits me down to the ground. It is great for ones lungs in the morning and for ones clothes too. But I always admired the rebel heart that pops up so rarely in Ireland these days. The Irish moan about a lot of things, but the truth is that the government can really bring in any law it likes and we'll comply with it. I mean, if we were to be invaded today I think the Irish reaction would be, 'Jeez, that's a pity now' - and we'd all comply with another set of laws.

Truth is, the law is not infallible, nowhere less so than our country where most of the laws date from foreign rule anyway. The only way to keep the truth of a law alive is to constantly and vigourously challenge it.

I am by no means encouraging the breaking of the law - I have a law degree and I respect the law. But one must challenge it too from time to time, to encourage debate about the merits of particular laws.
 
Re: downturn

The only way to keep the truth of a law alive is to constantly and vigourously challenge it.
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There's a difference between challenging a law and breaking it. The owners of this pub are breaking the law if they permit customers smoke on their premises. The vintners had an opportunity to challenge the law in court and they declined.
 
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The owner of the pub in question was just on local radio. He claims that from this morning the rest of his pubs in Galway (4 or 5) will allow smoking. He says he will not back down and reckons that he would be out of business if things remained as they were.

should this man not be locked up?
 
Re: .

He will be out of business (or at least significantly out of pocket) if the Gardai arrive down this evening. Those fines will soon stack up.

He should not be locked up, but at the very least there should be a Garda or health board person there taking note and administerinng fines.

The owner of this place has admitted openly that he knows he is breaking the law and is continuing to do so.

Failure to act on the part of the authorities will significantly weaken the power of the legislation.

z
 
Where's jem - the voice of reason on this matter?! :smokin

:lol
 
What's missing in this country is a sense of outrage

Except that the [broken link removed] of people in this country weren't against it in the first place.
 
What's missing in this country is a sense of outrage
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This is patently incorrect. If you listen to the likes of Joe Duffy, Morning Ireland etc or read the likes of the Sindo, Ireland on Sunday etc or even browse AAM you will hear or see people expressing outrage about practically every issue from the smoking ban to the Luas and from Darina Allen to McDonalds. This country wallows in outrage and whinging.
 
Indeed piggy. What's missing is a sense of outrage in general. That's why we have a pathetic health system, a poor and disjointed transport system and a joke of a justice system. None of the the politicians have any real vision or can see the full picture, they're all 'party men'. I'm not sure which is worse, the incompetence or the corruption. Added to this Ireland must now be about the most state regulated country in the western world.
 
Here's a radical suggestion to publicans who claim that takings are down as a result of the smoking ban - instead of flouting the ban reduce your prices to attract more punters in. :rolleyes
 
Added to this Ireland must now be about the most state regulated country in the western world

I might not argue with all the points you made in your last post but in relation to the above have you any proof to back this up?
 
Fair play to him. I'm glad to see somebody (anybody) take a stand against this nonsense. I'm a nonsmoker, in fact I hate smokers (I reckon it's smokers and smokers kids who litter this country) and I have benefited in practice from the ban however I am totally against it in principle.

This is an example of the state trying to micromanage peoples lives and to do so under the pretense of protecting workers. What's missing in this country is a sense of outrage. If the government introduced a law saying people needed a licence to walk down the road there would be people queuing up at every Post Office to get theirs.

The Gardai don't enforce this law, it would seem that politicians are exempt, if you were fined €3000 in court and couldn't pay you could find yourself in prison (costing the state around €1000 per week) but you would then legally be allow to smoke. Only in Ireland. Laws come and go, nonsense laws should probably be ignored, the law and the Irish legal system are a poor vehicle for justice.

End of rant.
 
Fibber

I heard this publican on the radio just now. He says that he has set up a special smoking section which should not affect the non-smokers.

Have we not been over the point a million times before ?
Was he on the moon when Mr Martin explained the whole concept of airborne carcinogens ?

Waste of time arguing with these people (and that includes piggy).

Gaillaimh abu !
 
Re: Fibber

Waste of time arguing with these people (and that includes piggy).

Considering I'm in support of this ban I don't see your point...unless it's just a sad attempt at trolling?
 
Re: a different protest

There seems to be a misconception that the free market is unrelated to regulation. This is absolutely not true. With the freedom to make money comes an obligation to act in responsible way. No one ever claimed that running a business is easy and regulation makes it more difficult; however the aim in a free market is to gain advantage by out smarting the competition e.g. added service, lower prices, novel product offers or whatever.

But not for this Western entrepreneur,… breaking the law is his solution, the sign of a bankrupt mind I’d say. Other ways to turn a profit by breaking the law: Don’t pay taxes, exploit workers, contaminate product. Would “head the ball” in Galway employ these just as easily? We may not like some laws but I sure as hell don’t feel that I have the right to ignore them.
 
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