Pubs selling seven million fewer pints

DRINKERS downed seven million fewer pints last month in a sales slump publicans have blamed on the smoking ban.

The country's largest publicans' organisation is now calling on the Government to row back on its no-butts legislation and allow smoking indoors in specially designated areas.

The Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI), which represents 6,000 publicans, said its members had suffered a 15-20% drop in business since the ban came into effect on March 29 and their suppliers' trade was down as much as 25%.

VFI president Seamus O'Donoghue warned the fall-off would lead to job losses and severe hardship.

"It doesn't make any difference whether you're in an urban or rural area, a tourist area or a place dependent on local trade it's affecting just about everyone," he said.

"What's really worrying is that this is happening during the summer in good weather. If this continues into a winter scenario, we can only expect a further decline. That's a major concern and people are angry and frustrated."

Statistics from other sources seem to contradict the VFI's assessment of the ban's impact. The Revenue Commissioners said while it was not possible to extract figures specifically relating to pubs, the overall take from excise duties was up slightly on the same period last year.

Beamish & Crawford declined to comment on its sales, citing commercial sensitivity, and Showerings said it was too early to draw conclusions.

A spokeswoman for Diageo (Guinness) said: "The overall market is down but it was down before the smoking ban so to what extent any decline can be attributed to the ban is not clear yet."

However, Paddy Jordan, director of the Irish Brewers Association, said sales were down 10% last month and the smoking ban was the only obvious change in the market.

"We were already on a downward slide but we felt there was some levelling off in the early part of the year.

But May was a shocker and from what we know about June so far, it will also be negative."

Mr Jordan said take-home business was up 4-5% in the same period but the home trade only accounted for about 15% of overall business. "It's a welcome increase but it doesn't compensate for a 10% decline in 85% of our trade," he said.

The figures are the first significant evidence the smoking ban may be having an impact on drinking habits as well as smoking habits. But despite the vintners' complaints, and reports Government party candidates took flak for the ban while canvassing for the recent elections, a spokesman for the Department of Health said it was working well and there were no plans to review the legislation. President of the Irish Medical Organisation, Dr Joe Barry, said a drop in alcohol consumption would be a good thing. "The Department of Health's Strategic Task Force on Alcohol is seeking an 18% reduction in over-all drinking per capita so anything that helps towards achieving that aim is welcome," he said.