The Minister of State at the Dept of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Frank Fahey, has said that he supports the Government's proposed ban on smoking in the workplace and will implement the legislation.
Mr Fahey's position on the ban has been the subject of Opposition speculation in recent days.
In a statement, he said that as minister with responsibility for health and safety in the workplace he was fully committed to the policy.
But he said the issue of enforcement needed to be carefully addressed and that he was currently awaiting recommendations from the Health and Safety Authority.
Kenny criticises junior ministers
His comments come after the Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, criticised junior ministers who have refused to publicly support the ban, due to be introduced in January.
Earlier, he told RTÉ it was a ridiculous situation that Mr Fahey could not be contacted and had not been willing to state unequivocally that he supported the ban.
There had been speculation that Mr Fahey expressed reservations about the new laws at a meeting of the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary meeting.
