Smoking would be banned in pubs across the Republic under new proposals disclosed by the Government today.
The Minister for Health Mr Micheal Martin said he would propose laws to ban cigarettes in many public places, including licensed premises.
In a Dáil committee Mr Martin was asked by Mr Gay Mitchell, Fine Gael’s spokesman for health, why pubs had not been directly proposed as smoke-free zones under the Public Health (Tobacco) Bill.
Mr Martin said he proposed to add an amendment to the Bill "later" which would bring pubs under the same no-smoking umbrella.
Mr Mitchell told the select Committee on Health and Children: "According to statistics supplied by the Department of Health there are now 7,000 deaths each year attributed to smoking."
He said lung cancer rates in the republic had increased from 9.7 per cent 30 years ago to more than 20 per cent today.
He said: "Based on statistics from the United States, the third biggest killer ... is indirect smoking. So perhaps up to 900 deaths in the republic each year are attributed to indirect smoking . . . In other words, somebody goes for a pint and they smoke someone else's cigarette when they do not smoke themselves."
He also criticised the wording in the proposed laws, which directly refers to cinemas and schools, where smoking is already banned but does not mention pubs.
But Mr Martin responded, saying the absence of pubs on the list did not mean they would be excluded from the law.
"Let's not have any doubt out there," he said. "I have an amendment coming out later which mentions the workplace and pubs, or licensed premises, and we are adding those two to the list."
PA