Bar staff sue Irish pubs over passive smoking

by Anne-Marie Walsh

The bar workers are also taking legal action against tobacco manufacturers following damage to their health ranging from "lung cancer to voice boxes being removed", according to Hugh Ward, the Dublin solicitor who is acting for them. They claim their illnesses were the result of smoke inhalation in the pubs where they worked.

"If bar staff want to earn a livelihood, it's very difficult for them to work and avoid the smoke," said Ward. The first case is due before court in November. The cases are being brought on the grounds of infringement of the health and safety at work act.

Jim Moloney, whose Mandate union organises bar staff, said: "A minority of employers don't seem to give a damn about their employees. They don't give a damn about the health and safety act. Once the till is ringing they don't care who's affected by the smoky atmosphere."

The plaintiffs are supported by anti-smoking activists. "We would like to give the public an opportunity, whether in a pub or restaurant, to have smoke-free facilities, but vintners should also be looking after the staff," said Valerie Coughlan, administrator of ASH Ireland.

The workers' legal action coincides with discussions between the Department of Health and Children and the Licensed Vintners' Association about smoke-free zones in pubs. The talks began after a review group on tobacco use in Ireland was established in November 1997. A department spokesman said a report was expected "fairly soon".

"I'm not surprised that negotiations are in place," said Coughlan. "But it's difficult to see pubs going all-out smoke-free, they want to give choice to their customers."

Ronnie Greaney set up an entirely smoke-free pub in Galway this year but it was not popular. He admitted defeat after 20 weeks and abandoned the experiment at An Tobar which adjoined The Dewdrop Inn which he also owns.

"Mine was a unique situation," he said. "I could monitor the two pubs. During the World Cup I would have a full house in the Dewdrop and I couldn't send anyone into the smoke-free one although there were stools available."

However, some bars like the Corkscrew in Blackrock, Dublin, have managed to run successful smoke-free sections. Most other bars prefer to try smoke-free zones, like the Old Orchard Inn in Rathfarnham, Dublin.

But many pub owners are reluctant even to make part of their premises smoke-free. Fiona O'Brien at the Ramble Inn in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, wouldn't consider a smoke-free zone "unless it becomes compulsory" and said that "very few people complain in the country".

"In my opinion, it's 100% or nothing," said Greaney. "Even with a smoke-free zone you will have smoke on your clothes. After all, people laughed years ago when you said you could sell bottles of Ballygowan for £1.25."

Encouraged by billion-pound settlements in America, another Dublin-based solicitor, Peter McDonnell who has pioneered cases against the tobacco industry in Ireland, has been trying for nine months to meet with Brian Cowen, the health minister, to discuss the possibility of a legal fund for those whose health has been damaged by smoking but has so far been unsuccessful.

"Since I started working on these cases at least 36 of my clients have died," he said. "Their families feel frustrated by the minister's refusal of their requests for a meeting."

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