Posted online: Aug 22nd, 2008

By Dermot Keys
dermot@letterkennypost.com
The Donegal woman who started Ireland’s first alcohol-free hotel bar is now preparing to launch a challenge to the government’s ban on smoking in the workplace.
Ann Sweeney, who runs the Carraig Rua Hotel in Dunfanaghy, accused the government of double standards in relation to the smoking ban and called for businesses to be allowed proper smoking facilities on their premises.
Ms Sweeney said the response from the general public to her new campaign has been “incredible.”
“People just don’t believe the anomaly that there is in the legislation,” she told the Letterkenny Post.
“How can you possibly say that government workers such as prison officers, nurses and people working in a psychiatric ward can be exposed to smoke in a working environment yet somebody working in a private business cannot voluntarily work in the same environment? They should certainly be given the choice. Nobody is asking workers to be exposed to smoking in the workplace except the government.”
The fact that the government is willing to heavily tax tobacco products while refusing to allow smokers to smoke inside business premises was another point of contention for Ms Sweeney.
She pointed to the recent decision in the German courts which declared parts of their smoking ban unconstitutional and initiated a review of the legislation.
“Business people don’t realise the power they have,” she added, calling on them to adopt a more proactive stance in relation to smoking.
“It has reduced my business by two thirds. I think that the government will have to compensate us for the money that we have lost over the last few years. I think we’ve been sleeping. Businesses thought that the public were going to rebel but instead they voted with their feet.”
Ms Sweeney, who recently formed her one-person New Ireland party, has received support from groups in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. She aims to challenge the existing legislation, either by forcing a prosecution or by taking it to court to question the legality of the ban.
Those interested in getting involved are invited to meet in the Carraig Rua on Sundays at 2pm.