The Chairman of the Western Health Board has quit his position in protest at the proposal to ban smoking in pubs from next January.
Councillor Val Hanley resigned at a meeting of the board in Galway this evening.
Cllr Hanley is a former Fianna Fáil Lord Mayor of Galway and a member of the Connacht Branch of the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI).Speaking after the meeting Cllr Hanley said he took his decision to protect his livelihood."The fact of the matter is you must look after your livelihood first and your family.
"I have taken the principled way out and I am now going over to the side of looking for compromise with the Minister through the national executive and the managers of the vintners."He said a series of attempts to work out a compromise solution with the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, had proved unsuccessful.
"I would still hope some formula to resolve this could be found."
Mr Hanley's departure from the health-board marked the most high-profile internal Fianna Fáil row over the smoking ban proposal to date.
Last week, widespread disagreements emerged at a meeting of Fianna Fáil's parliamentary party, with as many as five junior ministers underscoring concerns about the difficulties of policing a ban.
Tonight, the Labour Party claimed the controversy was a further indication of the extent to which the Government was unravelling.
Mr Eamon Gilmore said: "There now appears to be no requirement on junior ministers to support government policies - and they feel free to pick and chose what item of policy they will or will not support."
