Ireland and Scotland press ahead with laws to ban smoking in cars with children

Well, that was an unexpectedly busy day, media wise.

It began with the overnight news that the Irish Government was about to announce the "long-awaited regulations" needed to enforce the legislation banning smoking in cars with children.

The story was quickly picked up by other media in Ireland and before many people were at work Forest's response was already online.

See If you smoke in a car that has a child in it, you will be fined €100 (Journal.ie)

Forest Eireann spokesman John Mallon was also invited to appear on Newstalk's Pat Kenny Show, one of Ireland's top radio shows.

After that he did several more interviews for other radio stations including RTE's flagship Drivetime programme.

As luck would have it the Scottish Parliament chose the same day to pass the Smoking Prohibition (Children in Motor Vehicles) Bill.

Again we had to whip out a response with the result that Forest was quoted by the BBC, the Scotsman and STV (MSPs pass legislation to ban smoking in vehicles with children) amongst others.

One radio station asked me to record our response on my iPhone and email the audio file to them so they could use a clip on their news bulletins.

That was easier said than done because I was in the centre of Cambridge at the time and it was quite difficult finding somewhere quiet.

When I thought I'd found a suitable spot I was interrupted – the first time by an extremely noisy skateboarder, the second time by an equally loud dustcart.

Eventually I found a dark alleyway, recorded my piece, and sent it off. A few minutes later they said it was fine, although it sounded a bit odd to me.

Meanwhile, back in Ireland, John Mallon has another interview lined up for the morning so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

On the bright side, it can't be any worse than today.