The Irish government faces increased pressure to review the smoking ban after a member of the Irish parliament attacked it.
Independent Party politician, Finian McGrath, told Irish health minister, Micheal Martin, that the ban was damaging to tourism and made visitors easy targets for drug dealers and beggars when they stood outside to smoke.
"Thousands of Irish smokers are now cancelling weekends away to Galway or Kerry and looking abroad for their breaks while foreign visitors from Spain and France are dismayed by our laws and lack of tolerance," he said.
Turnover in Dublin pubs has fallen by as much as 16% since the ban was introduced in March, according to the Licensed Vintners Association in Ireland.
