Two Ministers of State last night emerged among Fianna Fáil TDs opposed to the plans of the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to ban smoking in pubs and restaurants.
The smoking ban, due to come into force in January, yesterday dominated nearly two hours of debate at the weekly Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting..
However, Mr Martin rejected all calls for a rowback and insisted that the Government had no option but to go ahead with the ban.
During a long meeting of Fianna Fáil TDs and senators, more than 20 of them spoke strongly in favour of a compromise formula.
"A large number of speakers were very impassioned in their contributions," said the chairman of the parliamentary party, the Louth TD, Mr Seamus Kirk.
Two Ministers of State, Mr Pat "The Cope" Gallagher and Mr Frank Fahey urged the Minister to introduce the smoking ban gradually.
A motion seeking compromise had been tabled by the Tipperary South TD, Mr Noel Davern, and Senator Eddie Bohan.
"If it had been put to a vote we would have won it," Mr Davern declared.
He went on: "We asked him for the most minimum form of compromise: that there would be designated smoking areas of minimal size in pubs.
"In addition, pubs would have to put in these new extractors that change the air every two minutes.
"We wanted him to leave the situation alone then for two or three years.
"We could always go back and look at this again if the changes were not working.
"But the thing would be self-policing, because the customer would police it," Mr Davern went on.
Clearly disappointed with the Minister's stand, the Tipperary South TD appeared to acknowledge that the anti-ban contingent in the parliamentary party are running out of options.
"We will have to regroup in the morning and see where we can go from here," said Mr Davern, who has consistently claimed that between 25 and 30 Fianna Fáil TDs support him.
Most of those in attendance believe the Davern-Bohan motion would have been passed if it had been put to a vote, but it is not policy to bring issues to a head inside the parliamentary party.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who has strongly backed the Minister for Health on a number of occasions, did not speak on the issue at the meeting.
The list of those seeking compromise included Mr Tony Killeen, Mr John Ellis, Mr Noel O'Flynn, Mr Tom McEllistrim, Mr John Maloney and Mr Michael Finneran.
In his reply, the Minister again accepted that many people feared that the ban would hit the licensed trade, although he insisted that international studies predicted otherwise.
He said he had a duty to workers in the hospitality trade.
"The evidence is overwhelming that passive smoking causes cancer," he told the meeting. Despite the opposition to the Minister's plans, most TDs now reluctantly acknowledge that he will not be deflected from his course.
Under the 2000 Public Health (Tobacco) Act, the Minister can introduce the changes by regulation. He does not need TDs to support the changes in the Dáil.
One TD told The Irish Times: "Many TDs spoke out against this. But you could not describe it as a highly charged meeting.
"There is nobody going to walk the plank on this one. Everybody knows that Mícheál has bet the house on this. He could not change if he wanted to do so.
"The decision of the Taoiseach not to speak doesn't mean much," he said.
" In fact, you could argue that the Taoiseach would be more likely to have made a contribution if there was a compromise formula coming down the road.
"However, I have little doubt that the Minister would do this differently if he was to do it over again: the gradual introduction of smoke-free areas etc," said the TD.
Meanwhile, the Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin North, Mr G.V. Wright, delivered an emotional apology before his parliamentary party colleagues.
"He apologised profusely. He was quite upset and emotional," Mr Kirk, the chairman of the parliamentary party, told The Irish Times later.