70.6% of students vote in favour of Tobacco Free Trinity

29.4% of students voted against

70.56% of students have voted in favour of the Tobacco Free Trinity proposal in a Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) plebiscite. 29.44% of students voted against. Turnout stood at roughly 8%, with a total valid poll of 1,447.

The proposal outlines the expansion of the existing tobacco free zones to the entire campus with the exception of the Kinsella Hall plinth, the area along the cricket pitch, and outside the launderette near the Dining Hall.

College introduced Tobacco Free Zones in 2016 to promote the “consideration of others” as well as a healthier and cleaner campus. Currently, there are three locations on Trinity’s campus where people are obliged refrain from smoking: the Fellow’s Square Zone, the Day Nursery and Health Centre Zone, and the Lloyd and Sports Centre Zone.

Following installation, College witnessed an 81% drop in smoking in the zones from July 2016 to April 2017. A 94% compliance rate was also observed.

Trinity started its transition to a tobacco free campus in April 2013. Following the release of an online survey that discovered a “majority” of the Trinity community supported the elimination of smoking on campus, spurred

As defined by the College Health Centre, a “tobacco free campus” is “one that supports people who don’t smoke by prohibiting smoking indoors and outdoors on college campuses.”

TCDSU President Shane De Rís commented: “TCDSU will present the results of this referendum to the Tobacco Policy Group on Monday. This will be included in the report brought to Board at a later stage. The reason for this plebiscite was to find out the student opinion on the issue, which has proven contentious in the past. These elections seen a dramatically increased voter turnout on previous years, this will also be noted.”

In the United States, over 1,500 third-level institutions are considered “tobacco-free.”

Additional reporting by Caroline Boyle.

Niamh Lynch

Niamh was Editor of the 65th volume of Trinity News. She is a History and Politics graduate.