The National Cancer Registry has said the impact of the smoking ban will not be seen in cancer rates for up to 15 years.
Dr Harry Comber, director of the registry, said that survival for lung cancer in Ireland is well below the EU average.
He was speaking at the publication of the registry's report on cancer.
Dr Comber said there were 110,000 cancer survivors of which 22,000 had survived breast cancer. The quality of life for these people had to be examined, he added.
The director said that the registry's access to Beaumont Hospital had now ended after ten years because of a shortage of accommodation.
Registry staff have been forced to leave the hospital and this means that there will be a backlog in the collection of cancer figures there, he added.
