I live in a tent and drink only Vodka,With the money I save on Property Tax and Water Tax I will be able to Smoke Cannabis alllll day. If anybody is left in Ireland in4 and a half years I hope they vote for the same crew again it just gets better and better.

They have not managed to stop people using mobile phones whilst driving (far more dangerous than smoking) so cant see this being enforced.

I think it is a good idea with kids . As David above said if there is someone in the car ask them but who are we to stop someone doing something when they are on there own

100% agree with no smoking in a car with kids in it,
However, If im on my own in a car then ill smoke if ive got ‘em !.
Why should that be banned, ive paid my tax ( on a pack of smokes & car tax)
I dont throw butts out of the window either .!! mind your own business & focus on your own driving !

jesus, next thing they’l be saying it’s illegal to use heroin in the car with my kids….god damn government infringing on our liberties.

I have implemented this ban already in my car. No complaints yet!

Former smoker here. Going 7 years strong, hoo ra!

Education, not law is the answer here.

Totally agree with children in the car but I find it disgraceful someone telling me I can’t have a smoke in my own private property if there are no children there. I would never smoke with a child there and if I had a passenger I’d always ask first if they minded out of courtesy. But I will not be told that i can’t smoke in my own car. What next no smoking in my own home!!!

This Country is becoming a police state run by people who do not have a clue in there departments and are only there for personal glory and financial gain its a disgrace ,you buy a car which is the most over priced in Europe ,insurance again the most over priced in Europe ,road tax again the most expensive in Europe and rip off taxed petrol ,now they want to tell you what you can and can’t do in it .DON’T THINK SO .I J Smith

Please people. This is a smokescreen (sorry) to cover up the fact that we got shafted yesterday with a property tax that will increase hugely over the next few years. While we’re discussing this we cannot discuss the other. Well, I can anyway as I can’t multi-task.

I’m a non-smoker. This mania for nanny-statism has to stop somewhere but I have no doubt this measure will be pushed through anyway. On the side of reality such a law would be unenforceable and the Gardai would, in any case, not bother implementing it, having better things to do with their time. Minister O’Reilly would do better to try and provide us with a semi-decent health service rather than implementing stupid measures like this.

How ironic is it that a right wing party is implementing policies that is making our state more Communist. Just like banning 4X4′s from our cities would be stupid and would be a form of communist dictatorship, banning smoking in PRIVATE cars is just ridiculous. However, I would support banning smoking on cars that have children in it as it is (un)intentionally endangering the kids lives just like drink driving with kids in the car.

SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

What about the fumes emitted by the car itself? These are potentially just as damaging as cigarette smoke:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4368093.stm

I’m not a smoker but people should be allowed to smoke in their car if they want, it is still legal.

People who smoke in vehicles with children are just plain ignorant….. Just uneducated… The old saying Monkey see, monkey do is very much alive and well .. Not an expert but I reckon if parents did not smoke in front of there children you would see some sort of decrease in young adults smoking.
.

I think smoking in doorways and entrance ways of establishments should be banned first. Walking through a wall of smoke to go into an office building or pub is disgusting and defeats the point, if said smoke blows in through the door of the space its banned from.

I fully support a ban on smoking while children are in the car however it will not be enforceable! How many times have you seen a driver throw their butt out of the window & then get a ticket for littering?
If people are ignorant enough to smoke with their kids in the car, they are going to flaunt whatever ban is put in place anyway.
An outright ban is just ludicrous. Nanny state a step too far. I don’t smoke but equally I’d never impinge on people right to smoke as long as it’s not harming others. What’s next? Banning it at home?
I can see it now: Government bans smoking everywhere but won’t ban the sale of tobacco products as it needs the revenue!

Sort out the people on trolleys, waiting list, closing hosptials, why isnt he dealing with things like that ?

I’m about as vehement an anti-smoker that you’ll ever find.

I think smoking is absolutely repulsive and that smokers are moronic.

That being said though…they have a right to smoke in their own property.

The ‘ what about the children’ argument seems a bit like trying to create a moral hazard argument.

WHAT? That’s interfering too much! People should be allowed to smoke in their own private cars. Yes I hated it as a kid when my parents used to smoke, I have always found the smell of cigarette smoke nauseating, but I think it’s better to be dealt with as a family issue instead of the government getting stuck into it too. I think the solution is to encourage families to talk about smoking habits. Drivers and passengers should just ask each other about it before getting into the car, and that includes talking to kids about whether they like sitting there breathing in all that secondhand smoke.

Come on Ireland, you’re giving yourself another headache. Let it go: grown-ups can make their own decisions about this one, surely?

Nothing worse than a fecker with a beard telling you what to do.

Would love to catch him in a head lock and shave that damned beard off.

Enough!I am not a smoker and I can’t stand smoky atmospheres but people have a right to make their own decisions in their own cars and even for their own families. Where is a person going to be allowed to smoke?Yes smoking is bad for you but show me one person who doesn’t do anything thats bad for them?!(and I’ll show you a someone with psychological problems)And some people need to smoke, some people can only get from one cigarette to the next because life is so hard. And people may say we have to pay for the health problems of people who grow up in smoky cars(:)but we have to pay for the problems of fat people or night shift workers etc. too and are we all going to made eat brown rice and go to bed at 9 o’clock? The smoking ban was bad enough-it was handled badly and treated us all like children but this is insane. I despair of this goddamn country.

Ban drinking alcohol in pubs if children are there for functions and what not. Ban drinking alcohol outside a pub in city centres where kids walking by will see this. FFS just take away TV, Internet, and anything else that may be harmful to kids.

Why can’t smokers just be charged for littering? Is a new law needed when one already exists? They chuck those cigarette ends out the window all over the place.

Filthy.

I’m not a smoker but I do think people should be allowed to smoke in their own cars (provided there’s no kids on board).

What really grinds my gears is people chucking their cigarette butts out the window. The world is not your ashtray!

This is just a though. Nothing set in stone. On the other hand a 100 charge is set in stone for every house hold, they couldn’t have picked a better time for this smoking shite.

Arghhhh …. some new idea …. politicians … don’t know what to invent …. Ludicrous is a meagre word for this idea …

If the government wants money, they may as well put into practice some other ‘laws’ rather than putting more out there : driving while on the phone – I come across this day-in, day-out ; cars with missing headlights, bald tyres …
Shall I go on ?!?!!

FFS! This is stupid… What difference does it make if someone smokes in their private car versus their sitting room with their children in it.

We are fast becoming a nanny state!!! Whatever happened to self autonomy???

Thought I’d just share the logic put forward pre-smoking ban: “A non-smoking area in a pub is like a non-peeing area in a swimming pool”.

Whilst I agree that people shouldn’t smoke when kids are in the car, Legislating for it is just idioticlly stupid. It represents the nanny state in which we live…..Will they ban adults, with kids, from smoking at home next…. Well we really did get the politicans we truely deserve

Here’s a thought… why don’t they arrest the bankers, developers and corrupt politicans who were complicit in the downfall of our country and leave parents to raise their kids.

It’s a ridiculous idea, any responsible adult is to think twice about smoking when children are around wherever they are. When James Reilly says he has the “welfare of children” at heart it’s just a joke! Does this government have child welfare in mind when members of the clergy can rape children & get away with it!!

The idea of this makes me want to take up smoking.

I’m all for banning smoking everywhere… only reason is the amount of butts and packets everywhere… take a look at the ground around traffic lights… im not saying that everyone person who smokes is a fillty smelly person but the few who dump rubbish on the ground and not in bins..

how ridiculous, big brother anyone?

This is beyond ludicrous. I detest smoking, but it’s an individual’s choice at the end of the day. Those who care so little as to smoke around kids are hardly going to care about a new law telling them they can’t do it.

I propose that smokers should only be allowed to smoke whilst wearing a fully recyclable carrier bag over their heads. With eyeholes cut out obviously. We don’t want them harming anyone other than themselves.

How will the Gardai check my system for Smoke?

do what my mother done when I was 15, smell my breath….
Nothing a good tube of toothpaste stashed in the glovebox will sort out.

I don’t smoke, but this has to be the
most ridiculous thing ever!

As most have already said this is just rubbish, was in Thurles last sunday for the hurling matches and was reminded over n over that smoking was not allowed on the terrace, so to smoke one had to leave the terrace, a distance of about 20 yards, to blow my smoke up in the air! This after paying a 20 euro admission! I agree that one should not smoke around children, and I believe that most people are savy enough to know that, so I would reccomend an advertising and information campaign rather than an unenforcable law!! The Guards have a tough enough job trying to rid the country of drink drivers and mobile phone users/drivers. The Health Minister would be well advised to help people give up smoking… the cost of patches and gum etc is horrendous… but then again don’t the cig and healthcare companies always win !!

just ban the sale and purchase of tobacco products in Ireland FFS! How can I buy a car, pay road tax, motor tax, insurance, buy over priced petrol and maintain it myself only to have a government tell me what I am allowed do inside that car!!
Smoking while driving isn’t as dangerous as being on a mobile phone when driving… you’re not distracted by talking to the cigarette or listening to it burn. I would never smoke with a child in the car but that’s a personal thing. If we’re not allowed to smoke in cars, bars, work or any other place where people work then why not just ban tobacco sales and purchases across the board! that would be good for the national health, in a few decades the health service might see a decline in smoking related illnesses… this proposal, while well timed to cover up the property tax, is just insane!

To the 406 people who say they would support a blanket ban on smoking in private cars, I say “F*** off, I paid for my car and I’ll do what I damn well like in it”.

Let’s take it one step further, ban living, and this will sort out all our problems. So much for our right to choice.

How is holding a mobile phone dangerous, and holding a cigarette isn’t?

Let’s just ban cars…

Could they not tackle prisons first…

The Health Minister should focus more on delivering a safe and effective health care system to the citizens of this country instead of this, pardon the pun, smoke screen crap!! This nanny state stuff has to stop!!

Are the Government actually trying to make us believe that they give a stuff about our kids` health?….. this is purely a revenue maker, simple as that!….. (they do this in the UK and its made millions in extra revenue).

I’m a non smoker but this has really got up my nose. The nanny state is thriving really isn’t it? But, it seems I left my earlier comments on this in the wrong location (9@9).

My points being:
Why cars with occupants 16 or under – when the law says you must be 18 for tobacco purchase? Logic?
How would it be policed? Gardai seemingly don’t even do Tax, NCT and Insurance checkpoints anymore. Traffic Wardens going to police it? If so – that’s in town centres only, what about the rest of the road network? are people not more likely to smoke in cars on longer journeys?
How do you enforce it? Fines? So it’s not really about health at all is it – it’s about sucking more money out of the pockets of the consumer.

Where does this nanny state mentality end….. ya don’t want to be hiding under the covers in your bed to have a smoke for fear of a Swat team taking you out…. I smoke but not around my kids..and in my car when they are not in it….I THINK THEREFORE I AM . do these ministers (who have done feck all right for decades) honestly believe they have to do all our thinking for us, probably better off fixing the mess they made of the country before pissing people off any further….. HEY GOVERNMENT…. GROW UP AND GET WITH THE REAL ISSUES

There should be a fifth choice in this survey. Sort out the HSE James Reilly and stop messing about with this meaningless B.S. Please. ( if they put cameras in every car this can be enforced as well as employing 1 million people to watch 1 million people)

Its possible the escalation in incidences of road rage, frayed nerves, impaired judgment etc as a result of the ban will kill more people than the smoking ban saves ?

How DARE the government restrict my right to inflict second hand smoke on children! The nerve of them!

Perhaps the resources proposed for implementing such a ban might be better employed in ensuring children are properly secured in the car. Every single day I see kids bouncing around the back seat or cars, or loose in the middle seat of a hiace. I’m not a smoker, but I’d be willing to bet that increased seatbelt compliance would save more lives than a smoking ban.

I’ve just thought of something else on this topic. I think if you want to ‘discourage’ people from smoking in cars, you need to make it awkward by thinking more laterally. Ban car manufacturers from selling cars with cigarette lighters and ashtrays in this market. Make it inconvenient and difficult for the smoker to have a cigarette in their car and condition people to change their habits over time, rather than trying to make it illegal. Rather than making the smoking of the cigarette illegal, make the flicking of the ash out the window illegal – by classifying that as ‘littering’. Eventually when most older cars with ashtrays have disappeared from our roads, people are conditioned not to smoke in their cars as it is too inconvenient and awkward because most cars are not equipped with ashtrays or lighters and disposing of ash/butts out the window is an established offence.

But as Julian Lee says – how many times have you seen anyone get a ticket for littering after flicking a fag butt out the window? In my case, never.

I think it is the most ridicolous thing ever! what is next? banning smoking in the house?
The country has really other problems than THAT!!

Driving whilst smoking is just as dangerous as driving whilst on a mobile phone, moreso in ways because there is a fire source, and you are within feet of a fuel tank. When lighting a cigarette most people take both of their hands off the wheel. Chikdren or not, i actually think this is a good measure to consider, particukarky from the point of view of road safety.

A car is a closed environment where second hand smoke is more concentrated. Smoking around kids is wrong but in a car they can’t get up and leave the room. I’ve given out shit to the mother since 15 if she even hinted at smoking in a car with me. Get some nicotine gum or something.

Every comment here has missed the point but I’m glad to see red thumbs appearing on them. The goal should be to make smoking as difficult and inconvenient as possible in every way and every location. Stopping the sale of cigarettes only creates a black market so the best course of action is to stop the smoking of them. Nobody can argue against the gradual banning of smoking altogether as there is nothing good that smoking brings to society. Any arguments against smoking being illegal altogether are as invalid as arguments against the illegality of other drugs. Obviously there’s the whole other issue that it is a HUGE distraction while driving (smoke impairing vision and the fag occupying a hand at times). We were shocked by the initial ‘smoking ban’ but it’s a huge success. Let’s really think about a complete ban. And don’t bother claiming infringement of civil liberties. It’s an addictive form of self-harm and we must rescue it’s victims.

Statistically more harm to a child’s health by prolonged periods of passive smoking exposure than them never wearing a seatbelt in a car…now tell me this, should they stop enforcing the wearing of seatbelts for children if we “don’t want to make them wear them”?

I’d compare this with the likes of a child protection act. Smoking around your kids is worse for their health than hitting them with a length of wire.

As an ex smoker I can say “HOW DARE THEY”. I am already paying through the nose for deisel road tax and insurance. If I want to have a 6 inch CUBAN CIGAR (~ as if I could afford one) in my car I will. What you are all forgetting is that the banning of smoking in any area only makes the cigarette seem more important to the poor smoker. Our government spends a fortune to convince the smoker of the iminent threat that their addiction is soon to be wiped out. The exact opposite is true. They keep this fear alive in smokers so they never quit as they are addicted to the forbidden. ALL SMOKERS please buy Allen Carrs book “easyway to stop smoking”. Your government should be supplying it free but alas the revenue they receive from smokers is too vast for them to give a damn and yet still have the gaul to look down their nose at the smokers causing the drain on our health service

Every adult has a responsibility to Children, smoking around them is Irresponsible and negligent, its not acceptable in today’s society where were more educated on the effects of smoking.

And if you re-read my comments above you will realise I would support a complete ban on smoking while driving, including high horses. There was no suggestion that any driver would choose to mow down children with a car. But I think you’ll find it’s against the law. Not necessarily traffic law in that case, as it would be man-slaughter at the very least. My point was/is that you can’t do as you damn well like in your private car property. All the crap above about free will, rights and doing what I damn well like is, well, crap. We are subject to a mass of traffic law that clearly says you can’t do as you damn well like. You can’t run a red light, you must drive on the left, you must wear a seatbelt, you must drive with due care and attention. Thankfully we don’t live in a libertarian/anarchist society. It would appear from the level of voter participation in elections that we live in a democracy. So we give a government a mandate to govern. By extension, we agree to live by the laws made by and enforced by the state. I think there’s been something close to libertarian anarchy in Somalia for the past 20 years if you wish to give it a try…

I think any sane parent with half a brain would be able to withstand the cravings to smoke in a car with thier child without the govt laying down the law, that said there’s a good argument for sterilising those who dont comply with common sense.