THREE SENATORS ARE working together to bring in legislation to ban smoking in cars where there are children present.
Senators John Crown, Jillian van Turnhout and Mark Daly are working to draft legislation to ban smoking in cars when there is a child or children in the car.
Senator van Turnhout told TheJournal.ie that Senator Crown will use private members’ time on 9 May to bring the issue forward.
She described it as very simple and very forward legislation. “We feel the Minister for Health and others have all agreed it needs to be done,” she said.
Children are suffering. So it is specifically in relation to children and we are suggesting that there is a fine [for those caught].
Under the legislation, gardaí would be responsible for policing whether people are smoking in cars with children also present. Senator van Turnhout described it as a public health issue but said that it would make sense for gardaí to have responsibility given that they look after road safety issues.
Senator van Turnhout said that when the Senators spoke about the issue, they were all coming at it from their distinct point of views and agreed on the aim.
“It is an important issue to collaborate on,” she said.
She said she is hopeful the Government will agree on the legislation, and said “the likely Government line is they are currently in the process of drafting x legislation and they will incorporate it into that”.
“I would hope [the Government would agree to it] because I think it is the right thing to do,” said the Senator. “The legislation is only one page in length and a lot of work has been put into it.”
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