Title: Maternal smoking and its impact on fetal, neonatal and maternal health in Ireland. Introduction: Tobacco use itself is a significant national public health problem, with 7,000 deaths per year caused by smoking-related illnesses¹. Smoking and second-hand smoke pose a dangerous risk to anyone exposed, and this is especially true with maternal smoking during pregnancy. Smoking is harmful to the mother, as it is to anyone who smokes, but it is linked to serious health problems. for the baby. Problems seen in unborn fetuses include low birth weight, malformations and even miscarriage. Problems seen in newborns include sudden infant death syndrome, asthma and childhood obesity. The mother is also at risk of vaginal bleeding and premature delivery2. Smoking is also linked to reduced fertility in women because it reduces the level of estrogen produced by the body3. This makes it harder for a woman to get pregnant, which can lead to a more stressful start to pregnancy. Hypoxia followed by carboxyhemoglobinemia is the underlying cause of the tertatogenicity of smoking during pregnancy. Nicotine is, as yet, not definitively linked to developmental disorders in the fetus, although nicotine is passed to the newborn through the breast milk of the nursing mother if she smokes while breastfeeding. 4. There is a considerable amount of literature available on this topic. , although it seems to remain a serious problem. The considerable difficulty of quitting smoking is one of the causes of the persistence of the problem of maternal smoking. Current status of maternal smoking: In 2011, 31.8 years was the average age of a mother giving birth in Ireland5. With 29% of Irish women in the 30-44 age category...... middle of newspaper ......st, however, go beyond simply informing their patients about the dangers of smoking during pregnancy and should take an active role in helping the mother to quit smoking, encouraging the use of programs such as QUIT and, if all other measures taken to try to quit fail, nicotine replacement therapy, although its effect on fetal health is unclear4. Perhaps the most serious, but potentially most effective method of reducing maternal smoking during pregnancy would be to make smoking during pregnancy illegal. This, however, brings with it many ethical complications, such as the right to bodily integrity. Maternal smoking during pregnancy is a serious public health problem in Ireland, causing numerous adverse health effects for both mother and child. Mothers should be supported in trying to quit smoking to ensure a better quality of life for themselves and their children..