Galway publicans have given "100 per cent" backing to the owners of the pub at the centre of a challenge to the workplace smoking ban.
The Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) will now be asked to back the legal case initiated by Mr Ronan Lawless and Mr Ciarán Levanzin, owners of Fibber Magees, following unanimous support for such a stance at the VFI's Galway branch meeting last evening .
Over 50 members attending the branch meeting in the Forster Court Hotel endorsed the proposal after a closed discussion lasting over an hour.
Mr Lawless was invited to present his case to the delegates and was accompanied by his business partner, Mr Levanzin.
"The VFI is not anti or pro-smoking, but is passive on this issue," VFI Galway county branch chairman, Mr Paul O'Grady, told journalists after the motion had been approved.
"The law of the land stands and senior counsel advice to us is the same as it has been in the past," he said. However, the VFI branch was asking the Government, and "the politicians of Galway city and county" to consider a compromise to the current legislation.
If this was not forthcoming, it was seeking financial support for a constitutional challenge which could end up in the Supreme Court or in Europe, he said.
Mr O'Grady said that the delegates had "every good wish" for Mr Lawless, who had closed his premises as a result of the ban enforcement last week.
Commenting on the decision, Mr Lawless said that he had personally decided to take the legal case, whatever the outcome of the VFI branch meeting, and still intended to do this.
Mr Lawless emphasised that he did not defend smoking, nor did he challenge the statistics in relation to its effect on health, and was "100 per cent" behind organisations like the Irish Cancer Society, Ash and Cancer Care West.
"Every one knows that smoking is bad, but I believe that education, not prohibition, will yield more positive results."
The Government had used "bully boy tactics" last week when warnings of High Court injunctions were issued by the Attorney-General's office and the Western Health Board in relation to Fibber Magees, Mr Lawless said.
"Yet no timeframe has been given for ceasing tobacco importation, and the Government still takes 79 to 80 per cent of the cost of a packet of cigarettes. If the Government was serious about the health issue, it should be giving this tax return to cancer research and support organisations."
Mr Lawless said that no other State in the world had issued a more restrictive smoking ban. A defining moment for him had been seeing his 72-year-old aunt having to smoke outside at a family wedding, he said.