"The first question we were asked in the hotel when we arrived last night was 'smoking or non-smoking?'" said Mr Finbar Murphy. "The fact is, the ban in Ireland is much more extensive. From January 1st, every bedroom in the industry in Ireland will be non-smoking - no exception."
Mr Murphy, a hotelier from Ballinacolling, Co Cork, is spokesman for the Irish Hospitality Industry Alliance, set up to fight the prohibition on smoking in pubs and restaurants to be introduced by the Government in January.
He and five other alliance members arrived in New York on Wednesday evening to examine the impact of the smoking ban here. Yesterday they joined a colourful rally near City Hall organised by the New York Night Life Association to protest against the ban imposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the city at the end of March and a more stringent state-wide law that came into effect yesterday.
Nearby, several dozen members of the American Cancer Society held a counter-rally at which they distributed the results of a survey issued by the NY City Department of Health on Wednesday. This claimed that since the implementation of the Smoke-free Air Act, the number of seasonally-adjusted jobs in the city's bars and restaurants has increased by 1,500.
Some bar owners in the pro-smoking demonstration complained they had suffered up to 40 per cent fall-off in business in the last quarter. Mr Murphy said they had been told by trade suppliers that business was down by 20 per cent in bars and restaurants in the five New York boroughs.
Mr Martin Mackin, the former Fianna Fáil general secretary, now with the Q4 public relations company, is travelling with the group as adviser. Both Mr Mackin and Mr Murphy said they were financing themselves and would not accept any funding from the tobacco industry.
The Irish group will be looking at the legal actions taken to protest the New York measures. On Tuesday, the Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association sought an injunction against the state-wide ban. It is hopeful that the court will "see the wisdom of our argument and the irreparable harm that our members are set to suffer", according to Mr Scott Wexler of the Restaurant and Tavern Association.
A lobbying group called Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment (CLASH) filed a suit on Wednesday claiming the ban discriminates against smokers.