Positive response for employers and unions from the workplace

Reaction: Unions and employers reported a "very positive" reaction to the first day of the workplace smoking ban.

Mr Oliver Donohoe, ICTU spokesman said congress members were delighted with the introduction of the ban and they acknowledged the initiative taken by the Minister for Health.

"It's something we've always been calling for," he said.

"Any feedback we've received has been very positive today."

However, he stressed the importance of maintaining compliance with the ban and said it was essential that people realised there was no leeway with the rules.

As the representative body of the trade union movement, the ICTU found itself fielding calls from media outlets all over the world yesterday, Mr Donohoe said. "We've had calls from as far away as Japan, Finland, Indonesia, believe it or not, and a lot of calls from Britain as well as calls from France.

"There's an amazing amount of international interest in how the ban is going and how it was achieved."

Employers were experiencing "little or no difficulty" with the ban's introduction, according to Mr Tony Briscoe, IBEC's assistant director.

This was because many employers had been restricting smoking for occupational safety and hygiene reasons for many years, he said.

There was no exodus of staff from the International Financial Services Centre for an outdoor smoke yesterday, according to a spokeswoman for IFMS, which provides property management services for the facility.

An estimated 10,700 employees work in the IFSC. The spokeswoman said some people could still be seen "having a sneaky fag" in the entrance to the buildings or at lift lobbies.