The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, has rejected criticism he was trying to mislead the public on new anti-smoking legislation.
Mr Gay Mitchell, Fine Gael spokesman on health, said it was "misleading and disingenuous" of the Minister to suggest on RTE radio that the new legislation addressed the need for a ban on smoking in pubs.
A Department of Health spokesman said the Minister denied misleading the public
Mr Mitchell said: "Section 46 of the new Bill which the Minister referred to does no more than list out all the public places where smoking is already banned. What Micheal Martin has failed to do is extend this list to specifically include pubs."
The Minister has said he does have the power to introduce a ban once the Bill has been passed. "We have given ourselves the power in the Bill to ban smoking in pubs or other places. It's very clear the Minister has the power to introduce the ban by regulation."
A spokeswoman for the Department said a part of Section 46 says: "the Minister may, by regulations, prohibit or restrict the smoking of tobacco products in . . . such a class [of place] as may be specified." This was the "key phrase", she said.
Mr Mitchell said: "The Minister is suggesting that he would use a general power under the new Bill to bring in a pub ban "by regulation" in some unspecified way at some unspecified date. The litmus test of his claim is: when?"