World watching smoke signals from Ireland's workplace ban

Russian reporters, Japanese television crews and international press agencies have descended on Ireland to report worldwide on the introduction of the workplace smoking ban on Monday.

The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, was interviewed by a Russian television crew in Cork yesterday, while Sky's Littlejohn programme was filmed at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin last night.

Hundreds of overseas journalists and television crews have come to Ireland to mark the event, according to a Department of Health spokeswoman, Ms Caitríona Meehan.

"There is a huge amount of interest in this from the overseas media," she said. The Department has already been contacted by crews from France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Britain and the United States.

Sky News and the BBC World Service have shown strong interest in the story, while BBC's News at Ten O'Clock carried an interview with Mr Martin on Thursday night.

US corporations such as NBC, CNN, the New York Times and the Baltimore Sun are covering the introduction of the ban.

The planned workplace smoking ban attracted international attention when it was first announced by Mr Martin in January 2003. It was to be in place for January 1st of this year.

However, its introduction was delayed by a number of factors, including the decision to exempt certain workplaces, such as prisons, from the law. New regulations had to be drafted and sufficient notice given to the EU before the new rules could be enforced.

The Minister faced a strong lobbying campaign against the ban from publicans, and from some within Fianna Fáil. Last August his Cabinet colleague, Mr Martin Cullen, publicly criticised the ban while Mr Martin was on holiday, saying: "I hate the importation of this American political correctness into Ireland."

Put "Ireland and smoking ban" into the Internet's Google search engine and you will find content from more than 117,000 websites, including media reports from Reuters India, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Washington Times.

Yesterday the Press Association carried a report, quoting a warning from the UK's Tobacco Manufacturers' Association, which said that there wouldn't be many céilithe in the Irish hospitality sector after Monday. Its chief executive, Mr Tim Lord, urged the UK to not follow suit.

The website Yahoo.com carried a Reuters report saying it was ironic that Ireland was leading the rest of Europe in banning smoking, given that the country was not known for its healthy lifestyle.