Martin confident of introducing smoking ban

The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said today he was confident of defeating any legal challenge to the proposed smoking ban and that it would be in place "in the next few months".

Mr Martin said today he was anticipating a court challenge from the Irish Hospitality Alliance and he would be considering legal advice on the matter. He said he was confident the proposed legislation would stand up in court.

"I've always anticipated that at some stage because certain interests out there want to knock this, full stop," he said.  "The likelihood of a legal challenge always looms...in the context of tobacco."

However, he said he was certain the ban would go ahead as planned. "It will happen early this year," he said. "The only issue now is a commencement date."

He said an announcement would be made in the next few weeks and hinted the implementation date may be in March or April. The ban cannot be implemented before the end of February, following the end of a 90-day EU approval process.

Mr Martin had initially hoped the ban would be in place on January 1st, but it has been put back by a series of technicalities and amendments to the legislation.