Chris, a former florist from Bangor, does not accept the that law based on "public" consultation from self interest, government quango groups, is legal and he has tried to force a real public inquiry on the matter in the public arena of a law court.
But his defence request that former health minister Paul Goggins and the Secretary of State Shaun Woodward appear to explain where the public support for the law has come from was denied by the judge.
"Through a freedom of information request, I ultimately found out that the three "public" consultations on this only involved 13 members of the public. The rest were staff working for the Govt in various quangos," Chris said.
"The judge said he wouldn't allow me to call the two minsters because they were both very important men of high integrity. My response was "aren't we all," but he would not accept this and I was found guilty and fined £1250 for smoking in a "public" place.
"Since then, both Goggins and Woodward have been caught up in the MPs expenses scandal and so I would question how much "integrity" these men actually have.
"I have said I will not pay the fine on principle and I pleaded for the opportunity to be heard at High Court. The deadline for payment was September 17 but I've been waiting for an answer on whether this can go to the High Court or not. When I phoned the court in Newtonards to enquire, I was told that two warrants have been issued - one demanding payment and the other for prison if I don't pay."
Chris's battle began in April 2007 when Ireland became smoke free. He owned a florist shop and because all of his staff were smokers, he told his local council he would be providing them with a smoking room because he wouldn't force them outside if they didn't want to go.
The local council told him he couldn't do that so he said he would sack his staff and employ "non-smokers only". Ironically, bearing in mind that the Equal Opportunities Commission has said that the discrimination law does not cover lifestyles, and only race, creed, and sexuality, Chris was told he couldn't do this either. The result was that Chris closed his shop in protest and then went into the outside porch of his local council and lit up.
"A tobacco control officer approached me and gave me a fixed penalty. I didn't want to pay. I wanted a court hearing so I could get a public inquiry," Chris said.
Chris has been conducting his own defence. He cannot get one single MP to support him and he cannot afford a decent solicitor. He is waiting for the warrant to be executed and to spend his 47 days in jail.