By Tom Deignan

Now that the New York City mayoral race is heating up it looks like Brooklyn-Queens Congressman Anthony Weiner is fishing for the Irish vote.

Weiner, along with another of Mayor Mike Bloom-berg’s opponents, came out recently slamming the anti-smoking law Bloomberg championed. Weiner was quoted as saying, “The smoking ban was insensitive to the needs of small outer-borough pubs, like the ones in my district for whom accommodating smokers is part of the rationale for their business.”

That probably rang true not only to the Irish bar owners in Weiner’s Brooklyn and Queens district, but all over the Irish enclaves of the Bronx and Staten Island, not to mention the Manhattan Irish pubs which are not located in the most chic of Gotham neighborhoods.

At the same time as Weiner — a Democrat who is running against Freddy Ferrer, Virginia Fields and Gifford Miller for their party’s right to challenge Bloomberg — was blasting Bloomberg, a member of the mayor’s own Republican Party nailed him on the smoking front.

Conservative challenger Tom Ognibene laced into Bloomy on not only the smoking issue, but for generally not being Republican enough.

At this point, however, doesn’t the smoking debate seem a bit old? A lot of time has passed and, like it or not, many New Yorkers seem to have accepted the anti-smoking law.

Besides, Irish pub and restaurant owners just might have a big, new, pricey problem on the horizon. It has to do with bathrooms, or potties, as they are sometimes called in the American vernacular.

This week, the New York City Council passed the Women’s Restroom Equity Bill. It won unanimous support in a vote last Wednesday.

The biggest provision in the bill demands that any new pub — any new buildings at all, or any building undergoing major renovations — install two toilets for women for every one provided to men. The logic is that women typically have to wait much longer on line to use the bathroom than men.

Obviously this is great news for women. But this may end up costing new Irish business owners a lot of money, as well as space in their restaurants and pubs.

The bill approved is a compromise version of a proposal that would have required almost all buildings new and old with public rest rooms to have a two-to-one ratio for women’s bathrooms. The tabloids have dubbed this the “potty parity” bill.

But the original potty parity bill was tossed out because of complaints that it would cost owners of bars, restaurants, theatres and other venues millions of dollars.

The bill approved last week calls for two-to-one female bathrooms only for brand new buildings or existing ones that undergo renovations where costs run over 50% of the overall value of the building.

Mayor Bloomberg has said he agrees with this bill so the law could take effect as soon as the fall. Supporters are pleased.

“This is a quantum leap into the 21st century,” Councilwoman Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn), a chief sponsor and architect of the bill, was quoted as saying.”

“When we talk about women and their quality of life, one thing that everyone has sort of turned a blind eye to has been our ability to utilize public facilities in a timely manner.”

But already many of the folks who lined up behind Irish pub owners for the smoking fight are bashing the new bathroom bill.

Robert Bookman, a lobbyist for the New York Nightlife Association which represents bars and clubs, said the legislation targeted too many locations. “No one has reported to us any complaints, from bars or even clubs,” he was quoted as saying.

This new law does give smaller business owners a break. The bill, for now, only applies to businesses that accommodate 150 or more people.

There is another way around the law. If a bar owner declares that all his toilets can be used by men and women he will be exempted.

Meaning that we’ll all likely be waiting on longer lines to use the toilet.

(Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net.)