Smoking ban not lifted for actors

Dancing at Lughnasa had to get new stage directions

Actors who want to light up on stage are not getting any exemption from the smoking ban, the assembly has heard.

Theatres had asked for the ban on smoking to be lifted for stage productions, arguing that it was needed for artistic integrity.

Health Minister Michael McGimpsey was expected to agree but he has decided not to back the exemption.

He said he had taken account of the concerns of health professionals. The move was welcomed in the assembly.

Mr McGimpsey told MLAs: "Smoke-free legislation was introduced with the primary aim of protecting the public health.

The smoking ban has posed a conundrum for theatre producers

"In my view, actual smoking is not essential to protect the integrity of a particular performance.

"Even if this were the case, I do not believe it outweighs the public health argument."

Northern Ireland's smoking ban came into effect on 30 April in a bid to reduce the deaths as a result of people breathing in second-hand smoke.

Belfast's Lyric Theatre contacted acclaimed Irish playwright Brian Friel to see if they could rewrite scenes where a cigarette is smoked in their current production of his play Dancing At Lughnasa.

However, assembly members were pleased at the health minister's move.

The assembly health committee's chairman, Democratic Unionist MP Iris Robinson, said it was clear there was strong opposition to smoking.

"During evidence to the committee on public health issues last Thursday, the chief medical officer pointed out that the introduction of the smoking ban on workplaces and public places was a major step forward but that much more needed to be done," she said.

"He reminded us that smoking claims the lives of approximately 2,300 people every year in Northern Ireland - a very damning and shocking statistic.

"I very much welcome the smoking ban on workplaces and I feel that any relaxation of the ban would have given entirely the wrong message."

The decision was also welcomed by Sinn Fein's Caral Ni Chuilin, the Ulster Unionists' Reverend Robert Coulter and the SDLP's Carmel Hanna.