As anti-smoking groups applauded the smoking ban yesterday, representatives of publicans indicated they were considering mounting a legal challenge to the new regulations.
The president of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, Mr Joe Browne, said his organisation would fight the ban "to the bitter end".
He complained the livelihoods of his 6,000-plus members were at stake as he claimed the numbers frequenting pubs once the ban came into effect would drop.
Furthermore, he described the ban as unworkable. The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, needed to clarify how he would ensure that if people persisted in smoking without a publican's permission, that it was the perpetrator of the crime, not the publican, that was fined. "Publicans are not law enforcers, nor can they be made responsible for someone else's crime," he said.
The Licensed Vintners' Association, which represents Dublin publicans, is also considering legal action but it said it would not comment on the new date for the ban until it had considered its position.
Also considering legal action to try and overturn the ban is the Irish Cigarette Machine Operators' Association. Its spokesman, Mr Gerry Lawlor, said all members of the association were small business people and the ban would have a "devastating" effect on their lives. They stood to lose their jobs, he said.
Meanwhile, the group from the hospitality sector formed to fight the ban, the Irish Hospitality Industry Alliance, said it was looking at other ways of defeating it. Mr Finbar Murphy, its spokesman, said his organisation had written to the EU seeking clarification on whether the State had breached an EU directive which stated a country planning to introduce legislation which was already planned by the EU should have to park its plans for 12 months. He was awaiting a reply.
He said he was disappointed Mr Martin had indicated there would be no exemptions for premises which suffered hardship as a result of the ban.
Mr Martin said it was open to any group to mount a legal challenge. He had taken the precaution of retaining a legal team to advise him in preparing the regulations and he believed if anyone mounted a challenge, the State would be in a position to resist it.
Health organisations and trade unions representing at least 1.1 million people in the State welcomed the ban.
Those backing it included the Irish Cancer Society, Irish Heart Foundation, the Asthma Society of Ireland, Ash Ireland, the Irish College of General Practitioners, the Irish Medical Organisation, Irish Hospital Consultants' Association, Irish Nurses' Organisation, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, SIPTU, IMPACT, Mandate, the Irish Pharmaceutical Union, National Youth Council, and the Institute of Public Health in Ireland. The director of the institute, Dr Jane Wilde, urged Northern Ireland to follow suit.