An organisation representing cigarette machine companies has said its members will go out of business and 450 jobs will be lost if the proposed ban on smoking is implemented.
The Irish Cigarette Machine Operators' Association (ICMOA) today also called on the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to publish the details of a recent economic analysis on the effect of the proposed smoking ban.
ICMOA spokesman Mr Gerry Lawlor, said the report commissioned by the Office of Tobacco Control (OTC) presented "definitive conclusions on the economic fallout" of the ban in relation to the hospitality sector.
The OTC has refused to make the details of the recent report public. Mr Lawlor questioned whether the Minister had something to hide because "the findings do not support his ill-thought out ban?"
In October 2003, the OTC-commissioned UCD economists, Mr Moore McDowell and Mr Joe Durkan, to investigate the economic effect of outright smoking bans have had in other countries and predict its effect in Ireland.
While the report has not been published, it is understood to say definitive conclusions cannot be drawn because sufficient data from other jurisdictions is not available.
Mr Lawlor pointed out that while the OTC maintains independent studies indicate the ban has no negative economic impact on the hospitality industry, the Department of Finance estimates it will lead to a 2 per cent drop in beer sales this year.
"Taxpayers have paid over €17,000 for this report but it would appear that it has now been buried," Mr Lawlor said.
Mr Martin's political reputation is riding on the ban and he is determined to see it implemented despite the threat of legal action from other organisations in the hospitality sector.
While hoteliers, publicans and restaurateurs believe trade will suffer and jobs will be lost if the ban is put in place, ICMOA says it will their members out of business entirely.
Mr Lawlor said the ban would have a "drastic" effect: "Our business is on the frontline and each and every member of our organisation and their employees will be out of business once this ban commences."
The association represents what it says are 120 small, family-run businesses "whose sole or primary source of income is the cigarette vending business".
It says 450 people will be made jobless if the ban - scheduled to take effect in March or April - goes ahead.