The Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI) has urged the the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to reconsider introducing a total ban on smoking in pubs and has dismissed evidence on the health effects of passive smoking as 'inconclusive'.
In a statement, VFI chief executive Mr Tadg O'Sullivan said it would be "a gross injustice" if a licensee were to be prosecuted for an offence committed by a customer.
Mr Martin, has said publicans could face jail terms of up to three months for failing to prevent smoking on their premises under the ban due to be implemented on January 1st next.
"Legislation needs to reflect and safeguard the rights of businesses," Mr O'Sullivan said.
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"Minister Martin has stated that the gardaí will not be involved in enforcing the proposed smoking ban but instead a small number of inspectors will have the task. Excluding Dublin pubs, the VFI has over 6,000 members so that is an impossibility."Publicans are not, and should not, be enforcers of the law. What are they to do if a customer refuses to put out a cigarette? This proposed blanket ban is completely unworkable and certainly unenforceable and furthermore it is based on inconclusive evidence."
Mr O'Sullivan rejected a claim made by the minister in an interview today that findings of the Office of Tobacco Control and the Health and Safety Authority into the effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in the workplace were unequivocal.
"That is not true. In fact the Report of the Expert Group published in January 2003 stated that "research in respect of ETS is scarce and inconclusive" and called for further research. Instead of undertaking that research, the Minister suddenly announced a blanket smoking ban in all workplaces."
Mr O'Sullivan said Ireland was the only country in Europe introducing such a ban and that even Finland had a derogation for such places as pubs.
He added that there was scientific evidence to show that ventilation/air purification removes carcinogens allowing smoking and non-smoking in the same premises.
The VFI also challenged official statistics that 7,000 Irish people die each year from smoking.
In correspondence to the health website irishhealth.com, the organisation claimed "there has been serious and embarrassing manipulation and exaggeration of statistics in relation to environmental tobacco smoke and its so called health effects".
Meanwhile, a group calling itself the pro-health lobby expressed concern about the Irish Hospitality Industry Alliance (IHIA) campaign against the smoking ban.
The body said the IHIA arguments about job losses and a potential downturn in business were "completely speculative" and unsupported by independent, scientifically credible evidence. The pro-health lobby represents the Irish Cancer Society, the Irish Heart Foundation and ASH Ireland, with support from the Asthma Society of Ireland, the Irish Sudden Infant Death Association and the Environmental Health Officers Association.
The pro-health lobby said job growth in New York city's hospitality sector between March and June this year had surpassed growth during the same period a year earlier. The IHIA has argued that the recent ban on smoking introduced in New York has been devastating for the industry.