Welcome to Ireland
Friday, February 8, 2013 at 12:09 Just boarded a train at Heuston Station, Dublin.
I flew to Ireland yesterday morning. It was raining when I arrived and it continued to drizzle for most of the day.
Today it has stopped raining and I've lost count of the number of people who have greeted me with the words, "Fine day!".
No, it's not. It's dull, grey and overcast - what the Scots would call "dreich".
Before catching the train I had to do an interview at the RTE studios in Donnybrook.
It wasn't for RTE, though. It was a pre-record for the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland programme which is broadcasting a report about the tobacco control industry's goal of a 'smoke free Scotland'.
After the interview the cameraman let slip that his company provides media training. (Was he trying to tell me something?)
He's also a smoker who welcomed the smoking ban, he said, because it forced him to cut down. I hear this a lot in Ireland, far more so than anywhere else.
Anyway, I'm en route to Cork and a meeting with Forest Eireann's John Mallon.
John has been quoted widely by the Irish media in recent weeks. On Tuesday he also spoke at length to the Irish Sun so we have degree of media traction.
Our task now is to build on that, which won't be easy. The concept of smokers' rights is completely alien over here.
This morning, for example, when asked by a taxi driver what I did for a living, I replied, "I run a group that defends smokers."
He took a moment to take this in. At the next set of traffic lights, he turned around, looked at me, and said:
"Defend smokers? What's that about, then?"
I was still trying to explain – and win him over – when we pulled up at the station.
Below: a screen grab of yours truly being interviewed by BBC Scotland at RTE in Dublin this morning. Lucky I brought my suit!
Reader Comments (1)
<I>He's also a smoker who welcomed the smoking ban, he said, because it forced him to cut down. I hear this a lot in Ireland, far more so than anywhere else.</I>
He would therefore, presumably, welcome a doubling of income tax, since that would also help him to cut down.