As a Dublin publican prepares to go to the High Court tomorrow seeking to remove an injunction preventing customers from smoking outside his pub, the Licensed Vintners' Association has warned that the case could undermine the workplace smoking ban.
Mr Tom Magher of the Hartstown House pub in Blanchardstown was issued with an injunction last week on the grounds that his customers were causing a nuisance to a local supermarket.
The chief executive of the Licensed Vintners' Association, Mr Donall O'Keeffe, said the association supported Mr Magher in his case but denied that it would be paying his legal costs.
The LVA believes that footpaths are in public ownership and it is therefore legal and entirely appropriate that people would smoke on them, he said.
"This is a right that we want to protect," he said, adding that otherwise the smoking ban would be "completely undermined".
"In order for a publican to have any chance to enforce the ban smokers have to be allowed to smoke outside pubs," he said.
He said the case was important for the trade and for smokers and that the ideal situation was that people would smoke outside and not interfere with residents and other businesses. "This is happening in virtually every pub around the country," he said.