The Licensed Vintners' Association (LVA) is advising its members to avoid becoming involved in violent or aggressive situations with customers who flout the law by smoking when the ban is introduced.
As the hospitality industry prepares for the introduction of the ban on Monday, a spokesman for the LVA said members had held a number of meetings about how they could tackle enforcement.
"Enforcement is going to be difficult especially as it is the publican's responsibility alone. The one guideline being stressed is that publicans should not get involved in violent or aggressive situations when confronting smokers," he said.
The LVA had accepted the ban and was urging members to abide by the law. It will be holding more meetings over the next few weeks to review how the ban was working, he said. The LVA has 700 members in Dublin.
A spokeswoman for the Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI), representing approximately 6,000 rural publicans, said that while members were not happy about the ban, they would abide by the law and would be urging that all members do the same.
Yesterday in a statement the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) said the smoking ban would bring about major cultural change in social habits and appealed to the public to be understanding and patient while hotels and guesthouses endeavoured to implement fully the new regulations.
The ban will apply to all areas of hotels and guesthouses other than guest bedrooms.
Mr Richard Bourke, the IHF president, said: "Obviously there will be teething problems, but I would urge the public to bear with us. It is important that our customers understand that we are implementing the law which will have an impact on the social habits of many people, so there is bound to be some level of uncertainty at the outset."
The IHF was fully committed to implementing the ban and abiding by the law despite the potential difficulties it might present, he said.