Any decision by publicans to withhold VAT in protest at the smoking ban would be "disgraceful", the Taoiseach said yesterday.
The vintners' lobby was also urged by the bar workers' union, Mandate, to end its "confrontational approach" and accept the ban on smoking in public places and places of work, which comes into effect at the end of January.
Mr Ahern told reporters after a conference address in Dublin that publicans should "keep themselves to what they are in business about", which was selling drink and food.
He found it "amazing" that the publicans' lobby was so lethargic about the fact that smoking killed thousands of people, he said.
He believed they would increase their business after the ban was introduced, as most pubs were "fairly badly ventilated" and "fairly poisonous where people smoke".
"I think now that that will be gone and an awful lot of decent people will go back into them and I think they will make more money, even though most of them are making too much anyway."
The Taoiseach was asked about the call for VAT payments to be withheld, which was made at a mass meeting of publicans organised by the Vintners Federation of Ireland on Tuesday.
"I think that's a disgraceful matter for them to get into," he said. "I hope they don't do it, it would be illegal. I think they should stop on this. The fact is 7,000 people are dying of smoking and they should concern themselves with that."
He recalled that when the drink-driving laws were tightened, there had also been claims that pubs would be forced to close.
In fact, it seemed to him, pubs were "getting more expensive by the day, not to mind the price of what you get in them".
Asked what he meant by saying publicans were making too much money, a Government spokeswoman said the Taoiseach's remarks spoke for themselves.
A spokeswoman for the Vintners Federation pointed out that there had been no decision to withhold VAT payments at the meeting on Tuesday.
It was a suggestion which had been made from the floor and which arose from "months of frustration and anger at the lack of consultation" about the issue of the smoking ban.
Mandate official Mr John Douglas said the workplace smoking ban was a fait accompli, and the vintners' organisations should engage in constructive dialogue over its implementation.
