Research had clearly shown that the hospitality industry in New York did not suffer an economic downturn as a result of the blanket ban on smoking imposed there, the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said yesterday.
Following his trip to the city to assess the impact of the ban, he said health officials there had pointed out that, contrary to anecdotal evidence, sales figures showed business was up in restaurants after the ban was introduced in that sector in 1995.
Furthermore, he said, there had actually been an increase in the number applying for liquor licences in the city in the aftermath of the ban being extended to pubs.
"I wasn't into the business of checking out anecdotally what the story was because you really have to rely on objectively based research, and the kind of things you must look for are sales figures and the number of new establishments that develop," he said.
Mr Martin said he had come away with his mind firmly made up that the ban, to be introduced here on January 1st, was the correct step to take.
The world didn't collapse, he said, after the ban was introduced in New York.
"The experience within a restaurant now that's smoke-free, or indeed a bar, is superb," he added.
He rejected a claim by the Licensed Vintners' Association that 93 per cent of Dublin bar staff supported a package of compromise solutions which it had put to the Government three weeks ago.
The organisation said over 1,600 bar staff in 135 pubs had signed a petition seeking compromise. Mr Martin said the whole notion of a petition of that kind was very questionable.
"I would expect in certain areas employees would be in a very vulnerable position in terms of signing a petition that would be presented to them by an employer," he said.
Mr Martin, who was speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, stressed that the bar workers' union, Mandate, was unequivocal in its support for a blanket smoking ban.
The circulation of the petition to bar staff had previously been criticised by the vice-president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr Peter McCloone, who said it could be seen as a form of intimidation.
Mr Martin will meet the Irish prison authorities early next month to discuss if prisons should be exempted from the ban. Psychiatric hospitals may also be considered for exemption.