The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has warned of difficulties in the Government's adoption of two separate pieces of legislation in relation to the smoking ban.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions deputy general secretary, Mr Peter Bunting, said that while it supported the proposed ban on smoking in the workplace, the fact that two enforcement agencies could be involved in implementing two sets of regulations would cause "confusion and inconsistency in prosecutions and penalties".
Speaking at the National Irish Safety Organisation annual conference in Galway, Mr Bunting said the Health and Safety Authority's move to declare environmental tobacco smoke a carcinogen will make Ireland and Finland the only states in the EU to do so.
If so declared, no enclosed workplace would be exempt from a total smoking ban, he added.
Whereas the Minister for Health could make exemptions to his amendments of the public health regulations, this would not be the case under the Health and Safety regulations, Mr Bunting added.
He said when the new legislation came in, it would "have to be enforced, and be seen to be enforced".
Mr Bunting said more resources were required for environmental health officers and inspectors with the Health and Safety Authority.
He also said the Irish Congress of Trade Unions had concerns about the impact of the ban in prisons and psychiatric units, but added that if the carcinogen declaration was put into effect there would be no exemptions.
Mr Tom Beegan, chief executive of the Health and Safety Authority, said a high-level committee would meet next week to examine some of the issues raised by Mr Bunting.
In another development, a Boston health executive and Irish hospitality representatives yesterday produced opposing views on the effects on jobs in the sector in the US after smoking bans.
Ms JoAnn Landers, director of the Tobacco Control programme for the City of Boston's health department, said a sample survey of Irish bars in Boston revealed that not one of the employees had lost their job as a result of the ban introduced last May.
However, the Vintners Federation of Ireland, Irish Hotels Federation and the Licensed Vintners Association, in a statement yesterday, said the findings of independent research carried out in New York showed a 10 per cent decline in waiting staff and bartenders' jobs since the smoking ban was introduced there.
They said the research was undertaken by a New York company, International Communications Research, on their behalf.
It was based on a survey of 300 bars, hotels and cocktail lounges in New York city and state.
More than two-thirds attributed the decline to the smoking ban with less than one-third attributing the decline to a poor economy, they said.
"The findings of this research provides concrete proof of the negative impact that the smoking ban has had on the hospitality sector in New York," the statement said.
Ms Landers was in Dublin yesterday to lend her support to the proposed ban on smoking.
She said that before the ban in Boston, a lot of the same concerns being expressed by the hospitality industry in Ireland were being voiced there, including loss of business and jobs.
"We did a sample survey of about five or six Irish bars in the city and no one has lost any jobs, not one.
"We have over 60 Irish bars and not one of the group in the sample has lost an employee," she said.
Since the ban, it was a little too early to gather any statistics but anecdotally, it was going very well, she said.
"We're out every single day and we have a 97 per cent compliance rate," Ms Landers said.
She said they found that business had not fallen off in Boston.
"We took the time to educate and close to 80 per cent of the public wanted it," she said.