Property owners must pay to clean up after illegal dumpers

By SIOBHÃÂN HOLLIMAN THE countdown has begun to the all-out ban on smoking anywhere on the grounds of Galway's two main public hospitals. From February 22 patients, staff and visitors at Galway University Hospitals will have to leave the hospitals' grounds entirely if they wish to smoke. [private] On Ash Wednesday the hospital campuses are to become completely smoke-free areas and smoking will no longer be permitted in the plastic gazebos dotted around the main buildings. The move follows the lead of St Vincent's Hospital, the Mater, Cork University Hospital and James Connolly  Hospital in Blanchardstown, which have already become completely smoke-free campuses. It's understood that by 2015, the grounds of every hospital in the country will be smoke free. Nearly ten years ago, the HSE West coughed up in the region of €80,000 on its first two smoking gazebos for UHG in a bid to stop smoking in wards and inside the buildings. Currently patients, visitors and staff aren't permitted to smoke anywhere inside the hospital buildings or at the entrance to the hospital. However a hut full of patients in their dressing gowns and slippers puffing away is a frequent sight for those visiting the acute hospital. 5,500 die from smoking The all-out smoking ban is contained in the HSE's National Service Plan 2012 and its director of public health policy Dr Fenton Howell pointed out that 5,500 people die from tobacco every year and there are thousands admitted to hospital beds because of their habit. 'We can't manage patients by letting them continue the thing that brought them into hospital in the first place,' he remarked. However the group representing smokers, Forest Éireann, has already criticised the move. Its founder John Mallon believes it will be a step too far for patients. While it had been feared that such a ban would see patients walking outside hospital gates, other hospitals that have already introduced the new measures say it has been a smooth transition with very few complaints. [/private]