Write to James Leavey

Whether it's for the craic, the booze or the music, the pub has long been the focal point of Ireland's social life  But then the Irish love good company and prefer to drink in public rather than at home.  Which is probably why there are more than 11,000 drinking establishments in Ireland – and that's not counting the thousands in Northern Ireland.

Unfortunately, while you can still enjoy a quiet smoke in most of the latter British province's pubs and bars, you've now as much chance of igniting your favourite cigar in Ireland as seeing the Banshee shagging a leprechaun.

The saddest day in the Irish smoker's history was 29 March 2004, when Ireland became the first country in the world to introduce a smoking ban.

The then Minister for Health, Micheal Martin, introduced this ban with the hope of protecting Irish people from the effects of passive smoking. Despite widespread criticism of what many considered to be a Draconian law introduced by Ireland's 'Nanny State',  a subsequent Irish poll by an independent consultant, Amarach, found that 89 per cent of respondents believed that the ban was a great success, with compliance standing at 97 per cent, to date. 

Well, yes, you wouldn't dream of lighting up in a country which was prepared to impose a Euro 3,000 fine or give you three months in jail for daring to enjoy a public smoke.

According to Ireland's National Smokers Quitline, over 7000 people have ceased to smoke, with 10,000 stating that they have reduced their consumption. In June 2004, Ireland's Department of Health stated that 24 per cent of the population now regarded themselves as smokers compared to 27 per cent in 2002.

It's not exactly a  huge drop in numbers, but where on earth do the Irish now smoke?

I rolled up in Dublin a month after the introduction of Ireland's smoking ban.  Now, once upon a time the best place to meet Dubliners – especially a smoker – was the pub for there are more than 700 of them and it's often said that you cannot walk across the city without passing one.

“Don't pass it, go in,” is the usual recommendation of a Dubliner.

Fine, provided you're not a beleagured smoker, for the only indoor public places in Dublin, indeed in the whole of Ireland, where you can now enjoy lit tobacco are hotel, guesthouse and B 'n' B bedrooms – provided the owners have designated smoker-friendly rooms for their poor guests. 

If you go mad from the want of a smoke, the good news is that you can light up in Ireland's psychiatric hospitals.  If the idea of not smoking gets you praying, you'll also be OK in Ireland's religious order homes – but please don't use that receptacle for the Holy Water as an ashtray.  And if you get seriously fed up with the whole thing and decide to take a swing at the next smug anti-smoker who starts giving you a lecture on the evils of nicotine, you're still allowed to smoke in every Irish prison (but not in a Garda Station detention area) where tobacco known as 'snout' is still the unofficial currency.

Which is why the contraceptive express that used to run from Belfast to Dublin bearing packets of those little “something for the weekend” essential items has now been replaced by trains full of hardened smokers, going the other way.  But I have to warn you that Northern Ireland is also looking at a smoking ban, so maybe all those smokers in Ireland should get on a boat and head for anywhere that will welcome them with an open ashtray.

The terrible thing is that when I last looked, all the pubs I went into in Dublin were packed out with non-smokers.  Apparently the thing to look out for is a pub with a deep doorway, in which you can crouch while having a crafty smoke.  Not that you'd want to enjoy a fine cigar in such places, and God knows there are no Havanas, as far as I know, in Ireland's prison cells or looney bins.

One man, sitting beside me in a Dublin pub, told me he had attended an illegal shebeen somewhere in the wilds of Killarney the previous weekend, and people had still gone outside in the early hours of the morning for a smoke.

“What's the point of that?” I told him.  “You could just as easily get arrested for the illegal drinking.”

Now that Dublin is a cosmopolitan city, many of the pubs have been putting tables and chairs outside, for the smokers.  The trouble is, what with Ireland's reputation for rain – days at a time – you'd need chairs with sawn-off legs so that you could sit under the tables to stop the rain from putting your cigar out.

“As it is now the first anniversary of the introduction of the ban, more will emerge from vested interests showing either that the ban is good for business, good for health or as I feel, that it is bad for business and bad for employment,” said David McGrane, director of Fox's fine cigar emporium in Grafton Street, Dublin.

“With the help of advertising, the medical profession and not least the tobacco industry, who in Ireland refused to attend a Dáil committee when the ban was being framed, the government has successfully sold the message that smoking is bad and anti-social. If we wish to continue to smoke, we must do so in a place where the least damage can be done.”

In Ireland, there are now huge fines for breaches of the no-smoking law. The person in charge of public premises who permits someone to smoke on his or her premises can now be fined up to €3,000 and those premises can be closed down for three months. There are similar fines for the sale of tobacco products to anyone under 18.

Meanwhile, figures from Ireland's Revenue Commissioners show that the sale of cigarettes in Ireland fell by 16 per cent in the first six months of 2004.

At present, the main cigarette companies in Ireland report falls of 8% to 10% in cigarette sales, which apparently does not take into account duty and manufacturing increases which have been applied since the ban was introduced

A report carried out by UK consultancy, Centre Economic and Business Research, found that volume sales in bars, night-clubs and public houses fell in Ireland by 10.7% in the past seven months. It also found that employment had fallen by 5.9% in the first five months since the ban was introduced.

According to McGrane, sales of premium and machine-made cigars such as Hamlet, Half Coronas and Villiger Export are way down, with only Cafe Crème, which can be smoked in a few minutes,  holding up.  What's the point of buying a decent good sized cigar if you can't enjoy it over a drink.

As if that wasn't bad enough, under Ireland's Place of Employment Act, if you have a housekeeper, your home becomes her place of employment and is subject to the Tobacco Bill. If you call a repairman to fix your television or washing machine, he can refuse to enter your house if you are smoking, but still charge you for the call.

Britain's cigar retailers had better watch out, for you're next.