Consumer body targets pub ‘cartel’

THE Irish pub trade has been identified as Ireland’s largest cartel by the Consumer Association of Ireland who want the Government to make opening a pub as easy as opening a grocery shop.

Consumer Association of Ireland chairman Michael Kilcoyne, speaking at the UCC Business Conference 2003, said Ireland’s 10,000 publicans were effectively protected from real competition by the outdated licence structure. This bars entry to the trade with licences being sold for up to €150,000, he said.

“This problem needs to be tackled now as customers are being fleeced by a trade which has increased its profit margins dramatically in recent years. It never ceases to amaze me that all of the publicans in a town decide to increase the price of a pint on the same day by the same amount.