Fake news or confidence trick?
Wednesday, April 25, 2018 at 12:20 The news seemed pretty conclusive.
'Smoking ban to be extended to outdoor areas where food served' declared the Irish Times.
Online, similar headlines confirmed the worst:
'Smoking ban to be extended in Ireland' (Irish Post)
'The smoking ban to be extended in Ireland' (TV3)
'The smoking ban is to be extended in Ireland' (Joe.ie)
'Ireland's smoking ban to be extended to outdoor areas where food is served' (Buzz.ie)
Some, to be fair, were a little more circumspect:
'Smoking ban may be extended to outdoor areas' (RTE)
'Smoking ban could be extended to outdoor dining areas' (Today FM)
'Plans could see smoking ban extended to outdoor food areas' (Newstalk)
Overall however it felt like a fait accompli so I was pleasantly surprised when RTE reported last night:
The Cabinet has agreed to look at extending the smoking ban to cover outdoor areas where food is being served.
However, no time scale has been set for when any changes might be introduced.
No time scale? In view of those earlier, more assertive, headlines, that felt like a result.
I don't know whether Forest's response and John Mallon's numerous interviews were noted by government, but we certainly made our voice heard online, in print, on radio and on TV.
The issue will run and run of course because the anti-smoking industry never rests until it gets what it wants.
Today, for example, I believe the private members' motion to extend the ban was being discussed in the Irish Parliament.
Fingers crossed the government won't rubber stamp anything without discussing it with consumers, restaurateurs and publicans.
The Vintners Federation of Ireland, which represents publicans, is said to be against the proposal but the Restaurants Association is in favour.
If and when that debate happens we'll no doubt here a lot about the impact of passive smoking on non-smoking customers.
According to RTE News last night the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland claims that “robust research demonstrates a significant risk from secondhand smoke outside”.
This is nonsense of course and we'll do our very best to challenge it. (I won't go into detail now but it can be debunked quite easily. Whether government will listen is a different matter.)
Our view is that bars, restaurants and cafes should be allowed to choose whether they want their outdoor eating areas to be smoking or non-smoking.
What I don't understand is why restaurateurs (and even publicans) who dislike people smoking on their premises, even outside, don't go ahead and ban it. They're perfectly entitled to, and some do.
Others however whinge and moan and wait for government to make the decision for them.
My guess is that they're worried by the potential loss of business and they're waiting for the law to be changed so there's a 'level playing field' and they won't have to compete with a 'smoker-friendly' establishment nearby.
(This also explains why very few publicans, even the anti-smoking ones, banned smoking indoors before legislation was introduced.)
Meanwhile, back to that unambiguous headline in the Irish Times: 'Smoking ban to be extended to outdoor areas where food served'.
Does it remind you of anything?
It is essential that campaigners create the impression of inevitable success. Campaigning of this kind is literally a confidence trick: the appearance of confidence both creates confidence and demoralises the opposition.
That's right, they’re the oft-repeated words of Deborah Arnott and her ASH sidekick Ian Wilmore writing in the Guardian in July 2007 ('Smoke and mirrors').
The 'confidence trick' (or fake news) is now standard practice for tobacco control so forgive me if I see conspiracies where none exist.
Either way, if there is a stay of execution we need to make the most of it.
Poll: Should smoking be banned in outdoors eating areas? Click to vote.
Update: The Irish Independent has more information.
Smoking is set to be banned in dining areas outside bars and restaurants with a four-metre buffer zone imposed.
New exclusion zones are to be created to stop customers lighting up near diners.
The Cabinet yesterday agreed to support “in principle” the proposal from Fine Gael senators led by former health minister Dr James Reilly.
The paper adds:
The proposals will still allow smoking in beer gardens or outdoor areas where only drink is served.
That all sounds credible enough yet there’s no statement from the current minister for health Simon Harris, and the only people quoted in the report are James Reilly (who is driving the initiative) and Dr Des Cox, a consultant in paediatric medicine who also supports the proposal.
Perhaps I’m grasping at straws, but it still feels like a confidence trick to me.
Reader Comments (3)
"Fingers crossed the government won't rubber stamp anything without discussing it with consumers, restaurateurs and publicans."
It is naive to think they won't. After all, they have rubber stamped everything else and they never listen to smokers or our representatives. They are treating us as the "niggers and jews" of the 21st century. Shame on them.
As for those restaurants in favour of the ban. Smokers should start boycotting them now. If I had visited one of these places knowing how much they despised me, while still taking my money, I would be very unhappy that they now want Govt to stop me visiting their shitholes.
I have rarely been out since July 1, 2007, but when forced to, I always avoid those places that made clear before the blanket ban law that they did not want me in their premises.
The outdoor smoking ban gambit is absolutely a 'confidence trick'. There is little actual public support for the ban but then again the same could be said about indoor bans as well. The tobacco control activists frame the need and then supply the propaganda to justify the need, incrementally building a perception of support for bans. Of course the antismokers twist reality to meet their agenda.
The outdoor ban campaign was singled several months ago by Reilly himself. The Independent has been supportive of the ban and indeed is presenting their previous unscientific, non-random online survey as justification for the ban. See "Smoking ban in outdoor food areas gets support of Independent.ie readers" https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/smoking-ban-in-outdoor-food-areas-gets-support-of-independentie-readers-36842892.html That poll is now either re-opened or a new poll is active. Either way, the initial poll from February showed 66% supporting a ban whilst the current iteration shows 63% supporting it at the time of this poll. This decrease itself shows the importance of smokers asserting their political clout.
This campaign was started back on February 14, 2018 as seen in this Irish Examiner article: "Smoking ban should be extended outdoors where food is served: James Reilly" https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/smoking-ban-should-be-extended-outdoors-where-food-is-served-james-reilly-828037.html
The so-called 'robust' data showing enhanced risk from second hand smoke outdoors is a ruse. The same is actually true for second hand smoke in general. That lie must be addressed and I look forward to seeing Forest get the truth out.
“robust research demonstrates a significant risk from secondhand smoke outside”
Doctors spouting this kind of BS should be hauled in front of the GMC on charges of bringing the profession in disrepute through lying or alternatively, being a danger to patients due to reduced mental capacity.