The majority of drinkers find most pubs smoky and support the idea of creating smoke-free zones as a solution, according to an Eastern Health Board survey.
The survey, undertaken throughout the State, found that 59 per cent of drinkers supported the idea of reserving part of their pub as a non-smoking area. The EHB said pubs at present represented the "last bastion" of unregulated smoking.
Some 88 per cent of respondents said they had been in pubs with a smoky atmosphere. Two-thirds said they had experienced this atmosphere "most times or every time" they were in a pub.
Some 25 per cent of drinkers surveyed had, at least once, left a pub because the atmosphere was too smoky.
Despite this, the EHB pointed out that other research it carried out showed that 61 per cent of publicans believed smoke-free zones would not appeal to customers.
Of the 1,000 pubs in the EHB area, only 7 per cent offered smoke-free zones, it claimed.
A statement from the EHB's health promotion department said the views of the publicans directly contradicted the views expressed by members of the public in the survey.
Ms Mary van Lieshout, EHB health promotion officer, said some publicans were not responding to customer demand by refusing to introduce smoke-free zones.
She said the findings indicated that public attitudes towards smoky pubs had changed radically in recent years.
The decision by a pub in Co Galway last year to reverse a nonsmoking policy was not relevant to the debate, she said.
"We are not talking about making pubs smoke-free completely. We are talking about giving customers an option to drink in a smoke-free area if they want," she said.
She said the EHB was offering training to bar staff on how to introduce smoke-free zones, and this had been accepted by pubs in Co Kildare and Co Wicklow.
She said the survey results were important because they followed research findings from New Zealand this week which claimed that people who inhaled other people's smoke had their chances of suffering a stroke raised by 82 per cent.
The survey was conducted during July throughout the State among 1,200 adults.
Older respondents tended to be more supportive of smoke-free areas in pubs, with the young expressing less enthusiasm. When questioned, 40 per cent of smokers said smoke-free zones were a good idea, 37 per cent said they were an "average" idea, and 20 per cent said they were a "poor" idea.
Of those who visited pubs, 56 per cent said they were "fairly concerned" about being in a smoke-filled atmosphere. Almost a quarter said they were "very concerned" about spending time in a smoked-filled pub.
The concern level increased with age. Some 39 per cent of those over 65 said they were "very concerned", compared to 17 per cent in the group aged between 15 and 24.
Apart from the issue of smoking, the survey found that about half of all adults visit a pub or lounge weekly. Only 12 per cent claimed they had never visited a pub or lounge.
About two-thirds of those under 35 were weekly visitors to a pub, compared to 28 per cent of those over 65.
The survey was carried out by the market research company, Behaviours and Attitudes Marketing Research.