Councils 'soft over smoking ban'

An assembly member has said some councils in Northern Ireland must drop their "softly, softly" approach to people smoking in public places.

Simon Hamilton said since the ban was brought in on 30 April 2007 there have been "widely different approaches" to enforcement by local councils.

While Castlereagh Borough Council detected 185 cases up to 31 March 2008, Dungannon Borough Council had none.

Two people in NI have been prosecuted for smoking in a smoke-free place.

During the same period, from 30 April 2007 until 31 March 2008, 350 written warnings and 34 fixed penalty notices were issued.

"The figures, revealed to me by the health minister (Michael McGimpsey), would suggest that even at this early stage, there are widely different approaches to the enforcement of the smoking ban across Northern Ireland," Mr Hamilton said.

"I simply cannot believe that in one area, there were no breaches of the ban at all in the last year."

The Strangford DUP assembly member said the law must be implemented.

"Whenever the smoking ban was introduced, it was almost universally welcomed, even by many smokers, as a good piece of legislation.

"As experience shows us, it isn't good enough to have a sensible law if it isn't implemented robustly," he said.

Recorded incidents of smoking in a public place: