There are growing calls for a smoking ban in Northern Ireland

A Northern Ireland doctor, backed by thousands of his colleagues, is calling on the government to make all workplaces smoke-free zones.

Dr Peter Maguire has urged a ban on smoking in enclosed spaces in the United Kingdom in the wake of a smoking ban recently implemented in the Republic of Ireland.

He has called on the British Medical Association to lobby government for the immediate introduction of equivalent legislation throughout the United Kingdom.

Dr Maguire, a consultant anaesthetist at Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry, put forward the motion at the BMA's annual conference in Llandudno on Wednesday.

He signed a giant prescription calling for the move and congratulated the government of the Irish Republic for the "leadership it has shown" by the workplace smoking ban.

Dr Maguire, who is deputy chairman of the BMA Board of Science said: "I live in Northern Ireland and yet I travel down to the Republic because I know that's where I have the choice to enjoy a beer in a smoke-free pub.

"I have seen that the ban on smoking in public places in Ireland has not affected business. Business is booming there. Smoke-free places means life not death.

"The British Government needs to have courage and follow the lead of Ireland, New York and Norway."

The doctors want smoking stubbed out in enclosed workplaces

The Republic of Ireland's smoking ban came into affect in March.

If customers are caught smoking in pubs, restaurants and other enclosed workplaces, proprietors face fines of up to 3,000 euros (�2,000).

In June, the BMA urged 1,000 doctors to write a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair over the smoking issue, to represent the 1,000 people who die every year from second-hand tobacco smoke.

By the end of the month, the BMA had received 4,500 letters.

During the conference, Dr Maguire also read extracts from some of the doctors' letters, which will be delivered to Downing Street on 5 July.

One doctor said he dealt daily with the "devastating impact of smoking".

"Smoking remains the main cause of preventable illness and death in the UK, and a major cause of health inequalities."

'Conclusive evidence'

Another health professional said for infants and children, the effects of second-hand smoke can be serious.

"I have experience of a family in which the mother smokes and the youngest child has had frequent admissions with acute asthma attacks, but the mother has never stopped smoking," the letter said.

The BMA said in the UK, about three million workers were regularly exposed to second-hand smoke and about 1.3 million workers were exposed to second-hand smoke at least 75% of the time.

Workers in lower socio-economic groups run the greatest risk of exposure.

It said there was "conclusive evidence" that second-hand smoke causes lung cancer, heart disease and respiratory infections.