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O'REILLY: Cigarettes: I'm giving up my first love... at 30  

Looking back at all those movie and music stars, only a few have survived (I would never have put money on Keith Richards being one.) The ones still walking the earth -- their faces are maps of excess, of fragility; their bodies weathered and beaten.

So, on my 30th birthday, our 16th anniversary, rather than celebratory inhalations of smoke and the draw of heat at my fingertips, it is a funeral I give to you, my love.

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Declan Lynch: Last luxury goes up in a puff of smoke  

• Cork second highest for illegal cigs 

NEW figures have shown that Cork recorded the second highest level of detections for illegal cigarette smuggling in Ireland across 2011.

Figures compiled by the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers' Committee have shown a dramatic increase in the levels of illegal cigarette activity as smokers increasingly turn to the black market to get their fix.

The figures showed that during 2011 at total of 23 counties recorded convictions related to either the smuggling or selling of illegal cigarettes, compared to 15 counties in 2010.

Not surprisingly, Dublin topped the table with 32 convictions for smuggling and 18 for the unlawful sale of cigarettes.

Cork came in second, with seven convictions for smuggling and four for the illegal sale of tobacco.

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Pro-smoking group brands Reilly plans “unnecessary”  

Irish parks and beaches smoking ban plan condemned 

Pro-smoking group hits out at Reilly plans to ban smoking in open areas  

Smokers’ body rejects plans to ban smoking in public parks  

A BODY representing the rights of Irish smokers has slammed proposals from health minister James Reilly to extend the smoking ban to areas like public parks and beaches.

Forest Éireann says the plans, announced by Reilly at a conference on Friday, are "ridiculous" and tantamount to an encroachment on civil liberties.

"The idea that people are at risk from someone smoking in the open air is ridiculous," said Forest Éireann spokesman John Mallon.

"Such a heavy-handed intrusion on me and a million more like me is not based on science or medicine," he added. "It is not evidence-based.

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Cancer Society welcomes proposal to ban smoking in parks and on beaches 

Smoking ban on cards for beaches and parks 

Irish Health Minister seeks to ban smoking in cars, beaches and parks  

• Irish Health Minister seeks to ban smoking in cars, beaches and parks | Irish News | IrishCentral 

Irish Health Minister James Reilly says he will ban outdoor smoking in parks and on beaches to stop children seeing adults smoking. He also intends to ban smoking in cars with children present.

He made his plans public at the irish Heart Foundation conference on Friday, according to the Irish Examiner.

He stated he wanted to follow the lead of New York which bans smoking in city-owned public spaces. He will bring his plan to the cabinet shortly.

"We don't want children to see adults smoking in public areas. Areas where we would expect lots of children to be present, as in our public parks and on our beaches, should be smoke-free zones, and I will be putting a memo to Government to that effect."

He said 29 per cent of Irish adults still smoked a figure that was far too high. In New York he said that had been cut to 22 per cent.

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38m contraband cigarettes seized in Dublin  

Customs seize 3.5 million cigarettes in Rosslare  

• CROWN: Picture a car filled with second-hand smoke and child in the seat  

Such is the disordered thought process -- the "stinkin' thinkin'" of the addict. The overwhelming power of addiction must be borne in mind when considering the arguments of the opponents of anti-smoking regulations. Such opposition is now mobilising against the legislation that I, together with my colleagues, senators Mark Daly and Jillian van Turnhout, will be introducing into Seanad Eireann, legislation that -- by a simple short amendment to the existing smoking ban -- would extend it to include cars in which children are present.

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Smokes raid shows huge black market