About one in seven licensed premises was found not to have complied with the ban on smoking in the workplace, according to the annual report of the Office of Tobacco Control.
The level of compliance stood at 95 per cent last year, with 2 per cent of restaurants and 5 per cent of hotels non-compliant with the ban. Environmental health officers undertook more than 32,000 inspections of premises under the smoke-free workplace legislation last year.
Almost 8,500 inspections related to licensed premises and 769 complaints, the report reveals.
Of these, 14 per cent of premises were found not to be compliant with the legislation, compared to 5 per cent of 1,219 hotels inspected and 2 per cent of some 6,200 restaurants.
About 16,000 - or half of all inspections - related to "other" categories such as retail outlets, preschools and creches, hospitals and barber shops.The level of compliance in these institutions was 98 per cent. Overall 88 per cent of all inspections found compliance with the requirement to provide "no smoking" signage.
Elsewhere, the report states that there were 35 prosecutions for offences under the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts last year, 34 of which were successful resulting in 37 convictions. The Probation Act was also applied on four occasions.
The vast majority of these prosecutions (31) related to licensed premises, while four related to non-compliant outdoor smoking shelters. Three related to taxi companies, one involved the driver of a bus and three were initiated against members of the public for smoking in a specified place.
A prosecution can attract a number of convictions and/or the application of the Probation Act, for example depending on the number of individuals involved.
The highest number of prosecutions (16) took place in the HSE West area last year, leading to 18 convictions and two instances where the Probation Act was applied.
Nine cases were taken in the HSE South area, leading to nine convictions, while the HSE Dublin Mid Leinster and North East areas pursued 10 prosecutions between them, leading to 10 convictions and two occasions when the Probation Act was applied.