Smokers are voters too

Good luck to John Mallon who is launching Forest Eireann's 'Smokers' Manifesto' in Cork this morning.

The manifesto urges politicians to:

• respect the rights of adults who have made an informed choice to smoke tobacco in full knowledge of the health risks associated with this legal product

• acknowledge that the overwhelming majority of smokers are ordinary, decent, law-abiding adults whose habit does not affect their ability to make a positive contribution to Irish society

• relax the smoking ban so that pubs and bars can provide smoking rooms that allow adults to smoke in greater comfort without bothering non-smokers

• cut tobacco duty to tackle smuggling and reduce the temptation to buy tobacco abroad

• recognise the major financial contribution made by consumers who buy tobacco from legitimate retailers in Ireland

• review the use of public money to fund groups and quangos dedicated to persecuting adult smokers

• engage with the consumer so that one million smokers no longer feel ignored and disenfranchised from the political process

• treat one million voters [the number of adult smokers in Ireland] with the respect they deserve

The manifesto is being published in advance of the Irish election on Friday February 25.

Comments

[Dave Atherton]

This is a well written manifesto, I hope personal freedoms and the smoking ban are an election issue in Ireland. 1 million people is a lot of votes.

[Pat Nurse]

All of this should have been an issue last time and directed our vote but sadly too many smoker voters fell for the LibDems Freedom scam and the Tories "nudge nudge, wink wink - maybe we will and maybe we won't" method of gaining smoker support last time.

Both parties have shown they care not an ounce for smokers. The Tories have hyped up the abuse with Bully Nudge and Lansley and Milton are in bed with ASH.

One can only hope the English smoker voter won't be so stupid to vote for either of these parties next time - Nulab was at least honest about its smoker persecution. The other parties conned smokers for the vote and then told them to get lost.

I hope the Irish smokers prove to have more sense and vote wisely.

Yes, Simon, Smokers are voters too but it does us no good if we keep voting for those who will not lift one finger to stop this constant abuse, exclusion, and discrimination in the workplace

[Junican]

I would echo Dave A's statement with one exception:

"" cut tobacco duty to tackle smuggling and reduce the temptation to buy tobacco abroad""

I have come to the conclusion in my own mind that there is no such thing as 'smuggling' as regards a legal product. The word 'smuggling' is just another brain-washing idea to manipulate the thinking of The People. It isn't the importing of the tobacco that is wrong - it is the duty which is wrong. Duty is almost bare-faced theft. So why should a person be accused of a crime when all he is doing is avoiding bare-faced theft?

But I am not criticising. I understand the need to add a bit of leverage.

The smoking ban has led me to think in a broader way about brain-washing. Sometimes it is hard to stop yourself thinking the wrong ideas because you have been conditioned. For example, the matter of the airmen who brought in tobacco on RAF aircraft. One of the things that the MSM made a point of saying was that the airmen had made about £30,000 each. No doubt that that was a figure plucked out of the air, but the point is that, just for a moment, I caught myself, just for a moment, accepting that there was something wrong with that. But why should there be? They bought the fags for a price and sold them for a price and did a lot of people a favour. They are heroes! I think I saw somewhere a comment that they were depriving the NHS of funds!