The Irish Farmers Association and employers’ group, Ibec, are the country’s most prolific lobbyists according to the first official record of political lobbying activities.

A decade on, vintners now figure strongly among the more avid supporters of the smoking ban, as Catherine Shanahan discovers

Despite a third of their customers being under the age of 30, almost half of publicans are not doing anything to target the demographic.

Only the really naive would think that drinks companies sponsor sporting events or, indeed, anything else on the basis of the goodness of their hearts. Were they to do so on that basis they just might have some seriously aggrieved shareholders on their case.

THE “average” drinker has nothing to fear about the morning-after breathalyser test, a publican insisted yesterday.

PUBLICANS descended on Leinster House to warn the Government their industry was “going down the tubes” unless efforts were made to save it.

The Vintners Federation of Ireland is calling on the Government to allow publicans reduce the rate of VAT they pay on the alcohol or drink sold.

FREE parking on Saturday mornings, coupled with reduced rates and service charges, could help save jobs in struggling Cork city centre retail businesses.

Limerick vintners will learn on Thursday if they have been sucessful in their bid to serve pints on Good Friday.

Vintners have added their voice to protests over the staging of a major rugby fixture on Good Friday - calling for it to be rescheduled.

THE ANIMATED debate about the decision to stage the eagerly awaited Magners League clash of Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park on Good Friday, April 2, continued yesterday.

CHEAPER cuts of meat are back on the menu because of the credit crunch, industry observers have noticed.

AN outdated law on shebeens, means that Anthony Kelly will face a fine of just £50 old pounds if he is convicted of a breach of the intoxicating liquor act in running a shebeen at Southill.

A supermarket chain is coming under pressure to ban its controversial new drinks promotion.

Publican's have today defended their position on monetary compensation for random breath tests stating that the Vintners Federation were in fact calling for support for publicans who are putting local transport initiatives in place in local villages and towns where communities are affected by stricter drinking driving laws.

VINTNERS Federation president Paul Stevenson recently said in reference to the appointment of the head of the Road Safety Association — “who, in their right mind, would appoint someone over pension age?”

A TAX hike on alcohol of at least 25% will be the first item on the agenda for the Finns who took over the EU presidency this week.

THE decision to delay Kilkenny’s St Patrick’s Day Parade until 4.30pm, after the Cheltenham Gold Cup and other parades across the south-east, proved a regrettable one weather-wise yesterday.

A HOTEL was yesterday ordered to get rid of its beer garden, prompting fears that other hotels and pubs may be forced to abandon their outside smoking zones.

IT is the height of cynicism to suggest that selling vodka in a sachet will not lead to greater consumption of spirits among teenagers and make the problem of under-age drinking even worse.

Lobby groups and political parties were quick to criticise the Budget yesterday, claiming it had failed to provide for those in most need of financial assistance.

I AM a non-smoking publican (having previously smoked for over 30 years) in a small village in the South-East.

I HAVE been a barman in Cork for many years.

Publicans say the Taoiseach insulted them yesterday, when he said many of them were making too much money and that their establishments were getting more expensive every day.

Almost one thousand publicans from outside Dublin are vowing to continue their fight against the imposition of the ban on smoking in the workplace.

The Vintners Federation of Ireland is claiming that pub owners won't be able to enforce the smoking ban and that the Government should ban the sale of tobacco in Ireland instead.

The Vintners Federation claims 84% of rural bar workers support a compromise solution on the smoking ban, rather than an all out ban on smoking.

The Minister for Health is warning publicans that the smoking ban will be enforced on all premises from January 1.

WHEN his stint in the Department of Health is over, Micheál Martin will not be best remembered for the health service reforms he presented last month. His enduring legacy will be an initiative he announced last January.

The Vintners Federation says ventilation can be highly effective at reducing cigarette smoke.

GROUPS tasked with implementing the smoking ban in pubs were “zealots” and “liars”, pub owners said yesterday.

The Vintners' Federation says it wants its members to stop operating happy hours and other drinks promotions which it says are contributing to late-night violence.

There are fresh calls for the introduction of a mandatory identification card.

PEOPLE have to change their unhealthy attitude to alcohol, President Mary McAleese warned yesterday.

A spokesperson for Willie O’Dea is insisting that the Junior Minister was given assurances from publicans that the ban on serving travellers was lifted.

Junior Minister Willie O’Dea has assured the threat of a blanket ban on serving Travellers in pubs has been removed.

Sinn Fein has described the Vintners Federation’s threatened ban on serving travellers as - completely unjustified and abhorrent.

The National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism has condemned the Vintners Federation of Ireland for threatening to ban travellers from 6,000 pubs outside Dublin.

The Vintners Federation has described proposals by an Oireachtas Committee to ban smoking in pubs as 'unworkable, unrealistic and unenforceable'.

Publicans are responding positively to an appeal to freeze drink prices until the end of the year.

The Vintners Federation has responded to Government calls for a decrease in the price of alcohol by demanding a reduction in excise duty.

There are fears of mass confusion over the introduction of the Euro at midnight on New Years Eve next.

Publicans will gather in Co Mayo later today for the opening day of the Vintners Federation three-day annual conference.

The Vintners Federation has rejected accusations from Consumer Affairs Minister Tom Kitt that publicans are cashing in on the lifting of the drinks price freeze order.