Vintners are to mount a major campaign against the proposed blanket ban on smoking.
The introduction of the ban would lead to a drop in the number of pub customers and would have "dire consequences" for the trade, it was claimed at the annual conference of the Irish Vintners' Federation in Letterkennny, Co Donegal, yesterday.
The federation is to launch a petition amongst publicans and customers in the coming weeks to seek a reversal of the Government plan.
Delegates yesterday passed a motion calling on the VFI to resist all attempts to impose the smoking ban.
Kerry branch delegate Mr John O'Sullivan pointed out that there is already a trend towards more drinking "off-trade". In 1990, 83 per cent of all alcohol consumption in Ireland was in pubs, but by 1999 this had dropped to 74 per cent.
But a smoking ban would keep even more people away from pubs. He estimated that between 20 per cent and 50 per cent of patrons smoke.
Already stricter drink-driving laws have meant that many people in the country are now afraid to drive to the pub and are instead drinking at home, he claimed.
The VFI president, Mr Joe Browne, said the VFI's PubAIR initiative - which is now being implemented by nearly 1,000 pubs - is a "realistic and effective alternative" to banning smoking in pubs.
Under this system, clean-air ventilation replaces all of the air within a premises with fresh air every five minutes.
"If Minister Micheál Martin is serious about confronting the smoking issue, banning smoking in pubs is not the answer. Assisting people to give up smoking through health awareness campaigns or banning the product itself are solutions which would tackle the real issue at stake," he said.
A motion calling for a ban on mobile-phone cameras in VFI members' premises was defeated.
A motion favouring the setting up of a database "of any and all troublesome, violent or abusive persons" was approved.
Kildare publican and member of the national executive Mr John Glennon proposed that each county should have its own database. Local members would be responsible for updating it and would use newspaper cuttings of court cases and Garda reporting to help compile it.