Falklands : Public Meeting Report (19/09/06)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 22.09.2006 (Article Archived on 06.10.2006)
A smoking ban was the main subject of this monthly meeting.
PUBLIC MEETING REPORT: TUESDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2006
By J. Brock (FINN)
A public meeting took place in the Court and Council Chamber on Tuesday, 19 September 2006 at 1700 hrs. Attending were Cllrs. Clausen (Chair), Davies, Robertson, Rendell, Hansen and Stevens. The subject of the meeting was the banning of smoking in public places. In answer to a question about how long the process would take Cllr Robertson said there would be a number of options prior to implementing the ban. Cllr Davies said that though smoking is bad for you it is important to control smoking in the right way. He intends to form a working group to discuss the way forward and review places, like Ireland, where smoking is banned in public houses.
Brian Summers asked why we just didn’t get on with it and ban smoking in public places instead of just talking about it. Cllr Davies mentioned that it was important to get people to agree to the measure. Cllr Robertson felt that legislation had to be approached with caution. She said that too much legislation tends to be counterproductive.
Annie Gisby said that we were just talking about something that poisons us and that she agreed with Brian that we need to do something about it now. Tim Miller mentioned that in England even clubs with private members had to adhere to the anti-smoking law. Cllr Clausen said he had a point but if there were employees of the private members club they would have to take their health into account. She mentioned that in some instances having a smoking ban increased business in public houses.
A health care worker said he thought Government had a moral responsibility to ban smoking to save the medical department money for treating smoking related illnesses. Cllr Davies supports the ban and knows it is generally popular but feels there is strong resistance for various reasons. That is why he re-worded his motion to be presented to LEGCO on Friday.
Former Councillor John Birmingham asked how the councillors felt about the smoking ban and they were all in favour but for various reasons. Cllr Robertson said she had a problem with using legislation to enforce the ban. She feels that an educational campaign is needed especially for young people.
Former Cllr. Luxton asked if there were enough Councillors attending LEGCO to pass the motion and said he felt all eight should be there. At present, there will be five councillors attending the meeting on Friday. Cllr Clausen said that David Lang would be drafting the legislation prior to his retirement at the end of October. Cllr Rendell said that clearly an educational programme needed to target young people. Cllr Robertson said that the same age limit should be used for voting, the use of alcohol and smoking. Cllr Clausen mentioned that teachers and police needed more powers to confiscate tobacco from students. At present a student can possess tobacco but cannot smoke or chew it.
The health care worker said that enforcement send a a strong message to children that it won’t be tolerated. Cllr Hansen said that we have been talking about it for years but have done little about it.
A member of the public said that at the Trough there is no smoking and people are happy to leave the venue with a full packet of cigarettes.
Another member of the public mentioned that she sees young people puffing away in the morning prior to going to school. Former Councillor Luxton asked what the penalty is for supplying tobacco to under age and said the penalty should be around £500.00to deter people from supplying tobacco to young people. Cllr Clausen said that at the moment Police weren’t patrolling Allardice Street where most of the smoking is taking place.
Cllr Rendell mentioned a form of citizens’ arrest but former Senior Magistrate Mr. Keith Watson said that it would be counter productive for the court system to deal with the multitude of cases that would produce. The health care worker said that he had been to Ireland where the ban was in place and pubs did a good business but in Northern Ireland the pubs were uninviting due to all the smoke. Scotland was clear but England had smoke filled pubs. It would be peer pressure that stops smoking in public places. Already MPA has regulations about smoking in public places. Tim Miller felt that only if no smoking was compulsory there would be compliance.
With the discussion about smoking ended, there was an exchange about the new wool regime. Cllr Clausen said that despite the grumbles the initiative to form a co-op came from the farmers themselves. People who had been the most vocal didn’t even attend the meeting and weren’t at the public meeting tonight. Former Cllr. Birmingham asked if FIDC would be funding the co-op and Cllr. Clausen said it would for 2.5 years subject to EXCO approval.
The subject went back to smoking with a question asked the health costs for people being ill due to second hand smoke and Cllr Davies mentioned that in the Falklands four people a year were sent away for treatment for smoking related illnesses. Cllr Rendell finished the meeting by saying that 20 to 25% extra cost to the health services budget in the Falklands due to having to medivac people out for illness.
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