Smoking outside is safe

Ireland's health minister Stephen Donnelly was in robust form last week:

Addressing the Dáil, he told TDs:

It is fair to say at this point that our vaccine programme has been an enormous success.

As someone who is keen to visit Ireland before the end of the year I emailed an old schoolfriend who lives near Dublin and asked, "Is this the general view in Ireland?"

He replied, "Not really. I still do not have a second AZ date. They have tried to dress up chaos in the clothes of order but in truth it has been supply led and bumpy."

Anyway, the reason the health minister's statement was brought to my attention was because of this passage in his statement to the Dáil:

The unambiguous advice that we got from NPHET [Institute of Public Health in Ireland] in light of its modelling and based on what is happening in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales is that, in terms of becoming infected, it is not safe for unprotected people to engage in what NPHET would describe as high-risk activity.

This advice is not given based on what is fair or unfair but on what is safe and unsafe. The State believes it is unsafe for there to be smoking indoors in bars but safer for it to be done outdoors, if not for the people smoking but for other people.

The State believes it is unsafe for people aged 17 and under to drink alcohol in bars but over the age of 18 it is considered safe. The framing for this is what is safe and unsafe and the only motivation is to try to keep people safe.

I know Donnelly used the word 'safer' in relation to smoking outside but his meaning is pretty clear. After all, according to the logic of his statement, if the Irish State thought smoking outside pubs and bars was 'unsafe' it wouldn't allow it, would it?