Bar workers who claim that their health has been harmed by tobacco smoke in the pubs where they work are to sue their employers for damages of up to £200,000 each.
Mr Hugh Ward, of the Dublin law firm Ward and Fitzpatrick, said he had 50 clients who were bar workers and on whose behalf he was preparing to take High Court action.
Twenty of the clients are smokers.
The 50 clients' illnesses varied from those who had lung cancer and diseases of the voice box, to workers with emphysema, according to Mr Ward.
The level of damages varied widely, but for the worst affected they would be seeking damages on a par with those received by haemophiliacs. Payouts in these cases were in the region of £200,000. The first of the cases is not expected to be listed for hearing until 2001.
The 50 cases were identified after the law firm ran a series of advertisements last year, which were followed by pamphlets circulated among bar workers by the Mandate trade union. The majority of the complainants are from Dublin.
Although 20 of the 50 employees smoke, Mr Ward said it would be their case that the smoky conditions they were required to work in caused their ill-health.
Mandate's divisional organiser for the licensed trade in the greater Dublin area, Mr Jim Moloney, said he knew of former bar-workers who had lost lungs and voice boxes as a result of smoking-related diseases.
Several had been forced to retire early and take disability pensions. These people and others would be closely watching the progress made by the first 50 cases.
"This, I can assure you, will open up a whole new can of worms," he said. While the newer, modern pubs had proper ventilation systems, tobacco smoke continued to be a problem for the older pubs. Not only was smoke blown over the counters at staff, but the canopy designs of older bars meant smoke was trapped behind the bar.
The Licensed Vintners' Association chief executive, Mr Frank Fell, said it would be very difficult to take an action against any one publican because the majority of bar staff changed jobs several times during their lifetime.
"If it turned out that one of these had a smoking-related disease, which of their employers would they sue?" he asked. Older workers might find that previous employers had since died.
The Vintners' Federation of Ireland president, Mr John Mansworth, also said it would be very difficult to find publicans liable for smoke-related illnesses of their employees.
The federation was currently running field trials on a number of ventilation systems.