The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, failed to produce his updated anti-smoking regulations yesterday, despite promising on Thursday they would be ready before the weekend.
With Mr Martin not now expected to name the revised start date for the smoking ban until early next week, The Irish Times established yesterday that some senior Ministers were not pleased at the way he brought the original regulations to Cabinet.
The disquiet within the Cabinet was confirmed as the Irish Hospitality Industry Alliance (IHIA) insisted the amended ban would not stand up to a legal challenge because of the licence status of certain pubs attached to homes.
Mr Martin was said by a senior political source to have "steamrolled" the Cabinet a fortnight ago when he disclosed he had already signed the regulations before bringing them before Government.
Some Ministers noted at the Cabinet that the regulations were highly sensitive politically, according to other informed sources. They would have preferred an opportunity to scrutinise them before Mr Martin signed them.
Sources close to Mr Martin insisted yesterday he had no obligation to bring the regulations to Cabinet in the first instance because they were based on a Government decision already taken.
"The Minister had undertaken to brief his colleagues on the regulations before their publication, and that's what happened," said one.
Uncertainty about whether the regulations were watertight legally led Mr Martin to move on Thursday to prepare amendments that will exempt hotel bedrooms, prison and Garda cells, psychiatric hospitals, nursing homes and hospices from the ban.
Because the European Commission requires three months' notice before such amendments can take legal effect, Mr Martin decided to postpone the activation of the ban, planned for January 26th, until the middle of February.
Mr Martin's team and the Attorney General's officials were still discussing the revised regulations yesterday. With publication expected on Monday, other Ministers will have no opportunity to discuss the amendments at a Cabinet meeting before they go to Brussels.
The Government spokeswoman said last night it was for Mr Martin to decide whether he wanted to bring the revised proposals to Cabinet on Tuesday.
Mr Martin's spokeswoman said a Cabinet decision on the amendments was not required.
Meanwhile, the IHIA said it would consider whether to mount a legal challenge when the final version of the regulations was published.
Its spokesman, Mr Finbarr Murphy, said the Department was trying to differentiate between the pub and its living quarters so the smoking ban could be enforced in the public area while the private area was exempt.