Smoking outside buildings

Sir, – Clive Williams finished his letter (September 30th) with the observation that the problem of people smoking outside their workplaces is an easy one to fix. Hmm. Like littering (fines). Like smoking on the bus (fines). Like dodging fares (fines). Like drinking in public (fines). Some behaviours may seem unsavoury, and easy to "fix", but aren't, so I can only dread the queue to the courts by people who have been sacked or refused admission and discriminated against because they smoked, outside, in the fresh air. And bothering who? Hard cases always make bad laws.– Yours, etc,

PAT QUINN,

Inchicore, Dublin 8.

Sir, – I don’t think it would be unreasonable to request that smokers refrain from puffing away mere feet from the doorway to their workplace. Non-smokers need not suffer from unwanted second-hand smoke inhalation and former smokers (myself included – 10 weeks, four days and three hours at the time of writing) need not suffer the allure of the tobacco leaf any more than necessary. – Yours, etc,

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FIACHRA KINDER,

Harold’s Cross, Dublin 6W.