Vintners support responsible and safe sale of alcohol

I READ with dismay the headline on the front page of your newspaper (Jan 10 — “Sting catches one-third of pubs and off-licences selling drink to children”.

While it may not be the fault of the journalist in question, the headline is unfortunately misleading, and could give the impression that a third of all pubs are guilty of serving minors.

According to the article, the 12-month nationwide sting, the Test Purchasing of Alcohol Scheme, began in October 2010, and has targeted 119 premises with offences detected in 41 of them. The gardaí will tell you that they generally target premises where they have suspicions of illegal activity. The 41 cases relate, according to the article, to pubs and off-licences, despite the breakdown between both not being available, according to Gerry Kavanagh of the Garda Press Office.