A leading hotelier has warned that pubs could suffer downturns of up to 25 per cent as a result of the smoking ban, to be introduced in January.
Mr John Fitzpatrick, owner of the Fitzpatrick Manhattan Hotel and vice-chairman of the Hotel Association of New York, also warned of the potential of a serious fall-off in tourism if the ban goes ahead.
When the smoking ban was introduced in New York, business fell by 25 per cent at Fitzer's, the pub at Fitzpatrick Manhattan Hotel, according to Mr Fitzpatrick. Fitzer's is treated as "the local bar" by neighbourhood residents and also has a large European clientele.
Mr Fitzpatrick said the decline has since reversed slightly, but business is still down 20 per cent all over the city since the introduction of the ban.
Mr Fitzpatrick dismissed claims by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that business has not been badly affected as "propaganda".
The anti-smoking movements has gone overboard, he said. He now fears that people may stop choosing New York as a weekend holiday destination, preferring to go to Boston or Chicago where they can smoke in bars.
The same, he predicted, could happen to Dublin.
A non-smoker, Mr Fitzpatrick believes restaurants should be completely smoke-free, but that pubs should be allowed to have smoking areas.
Outdoor cafe-style areas can allow smoking, but no establishment may have more than 25 per cent of its space used in this way.
A growing number of members of the Hotel Association of New York would like to see "glassed in" areas in pubs for smokers with special ventilation to protect non-smokers, according to Mr Fitzpatrick.
"What tends to happen is that people have one drink with friends, then go outside for a cigarette.
"The smoker then returns to rejoin the conversation, has another drink, then pops outside again.
"If the smoker returns for a third drink, which clientele of Fitzer's have always tended to do, they then go outside for another cigarette by which time they are feeling so awkward that they decide, 'I might as well go home'," Mr Fitzpatrick added.