Publicans must not call time on drink problem

Fionnán Sheahan, Political Reporter

This quote from Licensed Vintners Federation chairman Kevin Towey yesterday sums up the attitude of

publicans to the growing epidemic of drunkenness and subsequent street violence: publicans are not to blame but are more than willing to see clampdowns on everyone else.

Appearing at an Oireachtas Health Committee hearing to talk about the high levels of alcohol consumption by young people, the LVA, representing Dublin publicans and the Vintners Federation of Ireland, representing country pub owners, put on the responsible face of pub owners.

According to Mr Towey, the licensed trade is one of the most highly regulated businesses in the country and is the most controlled environment in which to consume alcohol.

VFI chief executive Tadhg O’Sullivan said 100,000 people are involved in the brewing, distribution and sale of alcohol in this country and alcohol had social, economic, fiscal and health benefits.

“Unfortunately the greater proportion of the focus has been on abuse,” he said.

Correctly pointing out that society had changed and parental shackles had been released with the consequent effect on youngsters, Mr O’Sullivan said the licensed trade had a responsibility to help tackle alcohol abuse, as did the Government, gardaí and parents.

Criticising the proposals by the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to grant alcohol licences to cafe bars, Mr O’Sullivan said there were 13,000 licences in the country.

Arguing that this was the largest concentration of licences in Europe, he suggested there were arguably too many outlets for alcohol already.

Notably, the vintners pointed out that pubs are just one element of the alcohol trade and the complex problem cannot be addressed by simple solutions.

Nonetheless the publicans put forward their recommendations to tackle the problem.

Top of the list is the immediate introduction of the mandatory ID card for 18 to 25-year-olds as promised by the Justice Minister.

This proposal already has broad support but then previous efforts to introduce ID cards have predominantly failed and the cards themselves easily forged.

Underage drinkers or adults who supply them with alcohol should be severely punished and have the full force of the law brought to bare upon them.

The vintners want greater discretion for publicans to refuse admission, seemingly to exclude under-23 year olds, notwithstanding the provisions of the Equal Status Act.

Coincidentally, the publicans were opposed to the introduction of the Act and have criticised its implementation ever since.

Relaxation of the regulations in the Act would be welcomed by the publicans and stretched to the limits.

Returning to a more discretionary right to refuse service would have implications beyond merely admitting young people and would also impact upon admittance of Travellers.

Oireachtas Health Committee chairman Batt O’Keeffe said it was ironic that pubs were concerned about the condition of people who came in to the pub, but didn’t really care what condition they were in when they left the premises.

Yet the publicans failed to acknowledge that the extension of the opening hours was contributing to the problem. Also, no suggestions of greater clampdowns on publicans serving

underage drinkers with increased penalties. Certainly no suggestion of market liberalisation or greater responsibility being laid at publicans’ doors.

Interestingly, Mr Towey suggested the reason there were so few closures of pubs in Dublin for selling to underage drinkers, compared to the west of Ireland, was because the capital’s pubs were so well run it simply wasn’t happening.

Intriguingly, Mr O’Sullivan said people often get drunk without the knowledge of the pub owner.

Tackling alcohol abuse needs to be approached by society as a whole, but it would help if interested parties would hold their hand up and admit to being in some way responsible.

Asking publicans to come up with proposals to encourage a reduction in the level of alcohol consumption is similar to asking a barber to advocate growing long hair.

Although publicans say they have a duty to contribute to solving the problem, even if that means a drop in revenue, the publicans’ representatives first responsibility is to promote and protect the interests of their members.

Yet the Minister for Justice is acting immediately upon a report drafted by a Commission on Liquor Licensing, with membership including the LVA, VFI, the National Association of Off-Licences, the Irish Hotels Federation and the Irish Nightclubs Industry Association.

You’ve got to wonder.