Tobacco Prohibitions

Workplaces  & Vehicles

Smoking is prohibited in a wide range of places. A person who is guilty of an offence under the Act shall be liable on summary conviction to a class D fine.

It is prohibited in indoor workplaces and most indoor places and vehicles to which the public has access.

Smoking is prohibited in outdoor places of work, including outdoor areas or service businesses. There is an exemption for outdoor areas covered by a fixed or immovable roof, provided that not more than 50 percent of the perimeter is surrounded by one or more walls.

The smoking ban applies to aircraft, trains, ships, vessels and public service vehicles.

Public, Health & Education Institutions

Smoking is prohibited in all public buildings belonging to or in the occupation of government, commissioner of public works or any body established by law.

Smoking is prohibited in hospitals and most residential healthcare facilities.  Hospitals, sanatoriums, laboratories, clinics, and healthcare centres are included.

There are exemptions for rooms within nursing homes, hospitals and psychiatric institutions.  In the latter cases of residential healthcare facilities, smoking in the patient’s room is restricted, though not necessarily prohibited.

Smoking is prohibited in most educational facilities.  This includes childcare facilities, preschools, primary and secondary schools, university and vocational facilities.  There is an exemption for rooms used solely for living accommodation, in which case smoking is restricted.

Hospitality

Smoking is prohibited in shops, stores, restaurants and cultural facilities.  It is prohibited in cinemas, theatres, concert halls and places used for indoor public entertainment.

It is prohibited in bars, pubs, nightclubs, and casinos. Smoking is prohibited in hotels and lodging houses.  Smoking in guest bedroom is restricted.

Exemptions

There are exemptions for

• hotel, guest rooms,
• prisons,
• living accommodation in  higher education facilities,
• accommodation in nursing homes,
• hospices,
• psychiatric institutions.

In some of these, especially the latter places,  there are restrictions and workplace smoking is prohibited.

Prisons are exempted from the smoking ban, although in practice, they have designated no smoking or smoking zones.

Obligation in Places Prohibited

Smokers are obliged not to smoke in smoke-free zones.  The smoker be convicted of an offence subject on summary conviction to a fine up to €3,000.

Owners of businesses must erect non-smoking signs.  Failure to do so is an offence, subject to a fine of up to €3,000 or three months in prison or both on summary conviction.

Business owners, employees and supervisors must remove ashtrays from the premises.

Owners and managers must take steps to ensure that people do not smoke on their premises.  They must make reasonable efforts to ensure compliance with legislation.  Failure to do so constitutes an offence subject to the above sanctions.

Regulations

The Minister may make regulations prescribing any matter or thing referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed. Regulations under this section may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.

There is a prohibition on smoking tobacco products in mechanically propelled vehicles in which the child is present. The smoking by a person (including a child) of a tobacco product in a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place and in which a child (or another child if the person smoking is a child) is present is prohibited.

A person who contravenes this obligation is guilty of an offence. A child is a person under 18 years of age.

Vehicle Offences

Where a person who commits the offence is not the driver of the mechanically propelled vehicle concerned, the driver shall also be guilty of an offence. In proceedings for an offence, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown, that a person who was present in a mechanically propelled vehicle in which the commission of the alleged offence occurred and who appeared to a member of the Garda Síochána, at that time, to be a child, was, at that time, a child.

In proceedings for an offence under this section, it shall be a defence for a person to show that he or she reasonably believed that any person who was present in the mechanically propelled vehicle in which the commission of the alleged offence occurred had attained the age of 18 years.

In proceedings for an offence brought against the driver of the mechanically propelled vehicle concerned, it shall be a defence for that person to show that he or she-

•  was, by reason of his or her driving of that vehicle, unable to prevent the commission of the alleged offence under subsection (2) by another person in that vehicle or
• made all reasonable efforts to prevent the commission of the alleged offence under subsection (2) by another person in that vehicle.

Powers of an Garda Síochána

A member of the Garda Síochána may, where it appears to him or her that a person in a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place and in which a child, or a person who appears to be a child, is present, is smoking a tobacco product-

• require the driver to stop the vehicle, and
• demand of any person in the vehicle whom the member suspects of committing an offence under section 2 , his or her name and address.

A person who-

• fails to stop a mechanically propelled vehicle in compliance with the requirement or
• on a demand being made of him or her, fails or refuses to give his or her name and address or gives information which is false or misleading,

shall be guilty of an offence.

Fixed Charge Notice

Where a member of the Garda Síochána has reasonable grounds for believing that a person is committing or has committed the above, he or she may serve on a person personally or by post at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, at the time of the alleged offence, gave to the member or another member of the Garda Síochána, a notice (“fixed charge notice”) in the prescribed form stating that-

• the person is alleged to have committed the offence,
• the person may, during the period of 28 days beginning on the date specified in the notice, make to a person specified in the notice at the address specified in the notice a payment of the prescribed amount accompanied by the notice,
• if the person does not make the payment specified in paragraph (b), during the period of 28 days beginning on the expiration of that period, the person may make a payment as specified in the notice of an amount 50 per cent greater than the prescribed amount referred to
• the person is not obliged to make the payment and
• a prosecution in respect of the alleged offence will not be instituted during the period specified in the notice, and if the payment specified in the notice is made during that period, no prosecution in respect of the alleged offence will be instituted.

Where notice is served under –

• the person to whom the notice applies may, during the period specified in the notice, make to a person specified in the notice at the address specified in the notice the payment specified in the notice, at the appropriate time so specified in relation to the payment, accompanied by the notice,
• the person so specified may receive the payment, issue a receipt for it and retain the money so paid, and any payment so received shall not be recoverable in any circumstances by the person who made it,
• A prosecution in respect to the alleged offence shall not be instituted during the period specified in the notice, and if the payment so specified is made during the period, no prosecution in respect to the alleged offence shall be instituted.

A prosecution in respect of an offence under section 2 shall not be instituted unless a fixed charge notice in respect of the alleged offence has been served on the person concerned under this section and the person fails to pay the appropriate amount of the fixed charge in accordance with the notice at the appropriate time specified in the notice in relation to the payment.

In a prosecution for an offence, the onus of proving that payment in accordance with a fixed charge notice has been made lies on the defendant.