AUTHOR COPY Original Article Exploring the story of the smoking ban in Ireland as a neo-liberal project Eluska Fernández School of Applied Social Studies, William Thompson House, University College Cork, Donovan’s Road, Cork T12 YN60, Ireland. E-mail: e.fernandez@ucc.ie Abstract The year 2014 marked the 10th year anniversary of the introduction of the smoking ban in Ireland. Despite the objections to the smoking ban, controversy in the media and uncertainties among the public that characterized the aftermath of its announcement, the smoking ban came into effect on 29 March 2004 with little or no need of coercive enforcement mechanisms. The ban was mainly self-enforced by the public and compliance was from the beginning remarkably high. This article is concerned with exploring what forms of conduct were assumed and promoted to seek a successful exercise in ‘the conduct of conduct’ (Foucault, 1982). Findings from research are presented that demonstrate how policy help produce and reproduce individuals’ identification as ‘responsible’ and ‘irresponsible’ citizens. The article also contributes to debates on how neo-liberal forms of government encourage self-regulation in the context of contemporary public health interventions. Social Theory & Health advance online publication, 18 November 2015; doi:10.1057/sth.2015.32 Keywords: smoking ban; governmentality; responsibilization; smokers Introduction The introduction of the smoking ban in Ireland is considered one of the biggest ‘success stories’ in public health policy, with anti-smoking advocates describing it as ‘the health initiative of the century’ (Clancy, 2004), ‘a runaway success’ (Howell, 2005) and more recently, at its 10th year anniversary, Irish Minister for Health Reilly referred to it as a ‘ground breaking initiative’(Reilly, 2014). It is easy to forget that when the smoking ban was announced on 30 January 2003, many reacted with surprise that Ireland should become the first country in the world to introduce an overall blanket ban on smoking in the workplace. Articles and commentaries published at the time show that the ‘common sense’ dictated that, as a measure that would also affect restaurants and pubs, the smoking ban was © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1477-8211 Social Theory & Health 1–19 www.palgrave-journals.com/sth/