One year after the law came into effect, not a single person has been fined for smoking in a car with children present.
On January 1, 2016 former ministers for health and for children, Leo Varadkar and James Reily signed the ban which made it illegal for anyone to smoke in a car with children.
With fines set at €100, today it was revealed that gardaí have not had to hand down a single fixed charge notice in just over 12 months.
“It’s really fantastic. The purpose of the legislation was not to make money from prosecutions but to encourage education and create a bit of debate,” former Senator and oncologist John Crown told Independent.ie.
In the UK, police have criticised efforts to bring in a similar law by calling it “unenforceable”.
“The existence of the legislation and awareness of it sends a strong message to people that smoking in cars with children present is no longer acceptable,” a spokesperson for An Garda Siochána said of the ban.
