The smoking ban has not only improved air quality in Irish pubs but has also improved the quality of music during traditional seisiúns, research published in the British Medical Journal this morning suggests.
Doctors at St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin conducted a telephone survey of all workers involved in the cleaning, repair, maintenance and renovation of accordions in the Republic.
They undertook the survey because of anecdotal evidence that the interiors of accordions played regularly in smoke-filled rooms trap contaminants circulating in the air as it filters through the instrument.
All six respondents confirmed that a strong smell of cigarette smoke emanated from accordions played in a smoke-filled environment when they were opened. Soot-like dirt is also deposited throughout the instrument, but especially where air enters the bellows through the air inlet valve and on the reeds.
One accordion repairer told Dr John Garvey and his co-authors from the Pulmonary and Sleep Disorders Unit at the hospital that the deposition of dirt could be substantial enough to affect the pitch of the reed.
Two others claimed that if a musician tended to play in a particular key, that this could be determined from the distribution of soot around particular reeds.
All the accordion workers stated categorically that these signs had definitely improved in accordions they had worked on since the introduction of the smoking ban here in 2004.
Separate research published last year found that the smoking ban improved the respiratory health of bar workers in Dublin pubs.