Smoking ban will also extinguish jobs
With 10,000 pubs in Ireland, that level of job losses is a very real threat, warned Alf Smiddy, managing director of Beamish & Crawford, who recently called for a phased introduction of the ban over a three- to five-year period.
But Mr Smiddy, who is also on the executive council of IBEC, the major employers' body, warned yesterday that thousands of jobs across the Irish economy will continue to be lost unless the overall competitiveness issue is resolved as an urgent priority.
There has been no growth in the beer market for four-and-a- half to five years.
Over the last six months the spirits market has plummeted, the cider market has declined, and sales of wine which was a fast-growing area have also stalled or declined in recent months, he said.
Mr Smiddy said the decline in excise duties shown in recent exchequer returns is a reflection of marketplace realities.
The beer market is down 5% this year, as is the cider market, while spirits suffered a drop of over 20% a factor that was added to by the budget hike.
"The perception has been created out there that as a nation we're drinking our heads off. The facts tell a different story, while the falling excise duties give the lie to the view that drinks consumption is booming," said Mr Smiddy.
The issue of responsible drinking has led to attacks on the industry over the last six to 12 months.
"I think the drinks industry has been singled out. The whole question of personal responsibility has been forgotten in this entire debate about alcohol," he said.
In his IBEC role and also as chairman of Plato, the body set up to help the development of small Irish firms, he says the economy as a whole is under competitive pressure not just the drinks sector.
Unless we get our competitive base right, job losses will get significantly worse, he warned.
Competitiveness has to be restored fast, and job creation given priority over everything else.
The negative news on the jobs front has been mounting, from Mitsui in Cork, MSL, Navan Carpets, Dairygold, and Diageo and Tayto last Friday, he said.
"Unless we can urgently restore competitiveness across the economy we will see unemployment increase at an alarming pace in the years ahead," he warned.
That will inevitably lead to increased taxation, potentially taking the economy back to pre-Celtic Tiger levels, he said.
The Beamish boss also said that Ireland's 200,000 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are not getting the support they deserve.
