Irish pubs revolt over smoking
Pubs further north fear customers will migrate to Northern Irish bars Publicans in the south-west of the Irish Republic have pledged to ignore a ban on smoking due to take effect in 2004.
Landlords in County Kerry said they would weather heavy fines in order to retain smoking customers, said to make up half the clientele in some bars.
The Irish health minister has ruled out any compromise over the ban on smoking in all workplaces, including pubs.
"The law will be applied to all establishments and that's the bottom line," Michael Martin said.
But all 380 members of a Kerry association of landlords have voted to reject the ban and decided instead that they would set up special areas for smokers.
John O'Sullivan, chairman of the association, said he would erect double doors in his own bar in Tralee and ask customers not to smoke within a metre of the bar.
"In this country we've had 800 years of oppression from a foreign power," he said, referring to the English occupation.
"Perhaps we might be rebellious by nature. We don't expect Michael Martin to bend just yet but bend he will once he feels the tide of public opinion."
'Intimidation'
The health minister said on Friday that research showed that secondary smoke was a killer and bar staff had to be protected by the law, which foresees fines of up to 1,900 euros for any pubs which do not comply after 1 January.
Referring to unrest among publicans, he said: "I think when people are still making these kind of statements they are failing to realise that this is for real".
Mandate, the trade union representing bar staff, has endorsed the ban and rejected the findings of a recent telephone poll conducted by the Irish Vintners' Federation which found that 70% of staff backed a compromise.
The union said the poll amounted to an act of intimidation.
Some bars in the capital, Dublin, appear to have accepted the ban and have already begun setting up wall-mounted ash-trays outside their premises as well as heated outdoor areas for smokers.