However, GRTU president Vince Farrugia hit out repeatedly at the government's handling of the issue, singling out Health Minister, Dr Louis Deguara for repeated criticism.

Hospitality and Leisure Section president, Philip Fenech, Dr Andrew Borg Cardona, the GRTU's legal adviser and president of the Tobacco Industry Advisory Council and Ing Oliver Aquilina addressed the meeting, apart from Mr Farrugia..

In his introduction, Philip Fenech said that in all negotiations with the government, the GRTU had always reached a compromise apart from this issue. He said that there was no way that any agreement could be hammered out with the Health Department as its attitude was heavy-handed and occasionally intransigent. Mr Fenech also cited a report by the Irish Licensed Vintners Association which reveals that over 2000 persons have lost their jobs in the leisure and publican business since the smoking ban came into effect there.

Mr Fenech emphasised that the GRTU was not a pro-smoking lobby and that the ban on smoking in public places was not linked to any EU directive. He added that Malta has a 90 per cent compliance rate with regard to non-smoking in public places apart from the leisure industry and that this record is among the best in Europe. Mr Fenech said that after the recent slump and free for all in the trade, both Norway and Ireland were asking for waivers on a total smoking ban.

Mr Fenech called for self-regulation in those small bars, band clubs and other similar public places that had also seen a small increase in their business since some employees were choosing to spend free time in places where they could smoke without breaking the law. He added that these small establishments would be dealt a deathblow with the imposition of this legislation.

In his conclusion, Mr Fenech said that we should wait for other countries to impose their own smoking bans and study the effects of these bans before implementing them locally without any research and care for damaging effects. He also said that the government had negotiated seven-year transition periods on safety and health issues so it made sense to have transition periods in this highly contentious issue.

In a wide-ranging and at times harsh tirade against the new smoking regulations, GRTU Director General, Vince Farrugia said the meeting had been called to protest against the enforcement of smoking regulations without proper negotiations. Mr Farrugia chided the government for making empty promises before the EU referendum and now the chickens were coming home to roost as these promises were being broken.

In a particular tirade against Minister Deguara, Mr Farrugia said the minister had gone back on the agreement negotiated with regard to the smoking regulations with the GRTU in April 2004 and that these measures only served to cause trouble for small businesses. He said this government and the GRTU had signed the European Charter for Small Enterprises. Mr Farrugia added that there were 35,000 employees and persons involved in small businesses and they were a powerful sector of the voting population, therefore the government should not continue trampling the small businessman underfoot.

Focusing on various contentious issues, Mr Farrugia mentioned the imposition of the eco-tax and the VAT hike saying that all these tax increases were hitting the self-employed sector hard and thus hindering business. He asked the government to be conciliatory and negotiate on the implementation of these new smoking regulations and also accused the Health Minister for attempting to camouflage the huge problems in the new hospital project by politicising the smoking issue.

As regards the smoking ban, Mr Farrugia said the law was still unclear about the eviction of smokers in non-smoking premises and added that those who smoke are not dogs to be confined to airtight rooms. Mr Farrugia said this government did not want to build consensus on the issue when the EU was built on that important principle. He also warned the Prime Minister not to take a stance that was not consistent with his reputation and to continue working in a consensual and non-confrontational manner.

Dr Andrew Borg Cardona explained the legal content of the law on smoking and said that the smoking room, which was to be installed, had to be completely sealed off from public access. Dr Borg Cardona gave some background on the smoking health issue and emphasised the fact that no scientific proof was available to establish a correlation between smokers and non-smokers and the detrimental effect of the former on the latter. (This was categorically denied yesterday by the Health Promotion Department director Mario Spiteri in an interview to The Times)

Dr Borg Cardona said that the law is very vague on enforcement but advised the establishment owners to abide by the regulations and at least, not allow smoking on their premises if they did not have a proper smoking room with the correct technical specifications installed.

Ing. Oliver Aquilina then gave a technical description of the smoking room required by law. This room should have proper ventilation, be depressurised at the rate of 7 Pascals (PA) and have an intake of 30 litres of air per person per second, Ing. Aquilina said. The room should also have a proper extraction system that would be monitored by Malta Standards Authority officials. It was calculated that a room for 100 people would cost around Lm3,000 for air-conditioning.

After a short question and answer session that dealt primarily with minor details, Mr Farrugia concluded the meeting by asking all members to be compliant and observe the law in the circumstances.

However, he called on the government to reason things out and at least, establish a commission on the smoking issue that would deal with the contentious points. He said that the GRTU would be handing out stickers for all establishment owners which indicate that no smoking is allowed according to regulations and called on the members to be patient and use common sense when dealing with those who flout the law.

However, if nothing was done and businesses were adversely affected by the smoking ban, the GRTU was not ruling out further action, Mr Farrugia concluded.