Licensing law reform may give publicans and staff time to agree deal

Legislation on reform of the pub licensing laws scheduled for autumn is expected to provide for a moratorium to give pub owners and bar workers time to agree new working hours before the law becomes operable.

Mandate, the trade union representing most of Dublin's 1,800 barmen, has insisted that pub licensing hours should not change until its members' interests are protected. Mr John Douglas, a senior official of the union, said yesterday that any new deal "must be matched by a new deal for the staff who work in the trade".

Negotiations between Mandate and the Dublin-based Licensed Vintners' Association have already begun, but the talks are only peripheral at this stage, pending publication of Mr O'Donoghue's proposed Bill in autumn. It is understood Mandate will also seek a productivity pay deal and increases in annual leave, "satisfactory" travelling and security arrangements for late working and the introduction of profit-sharing schemes as provided for under Partnership 2000.

A report compiled last year for Mandate by economic consultants Fitzpatrick & Co, when the licensing hours changes were first mooted, was concerned that the new working practices could mean a fall in full-time jobs and more casualisation in pubs, as well as generally higher levels of absenteeism among the workforce.

Though Mandate is not opposed to the "limited extension" of trading hours recommended by an all-party Oireachtas committee, the union is adamant that any new legislation must strike a fair balance between the various interests, including staff.

Under the Oireachtas committee's proposal to allow pubs to stay open for 14 hours on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, bar workers would find themselves working a 16-hour day, including start-up, cleaning and drinking-up times. The Dublin bar owners in particular are not keen on long openings on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when trade is relatively quiet, however.

A short Bill to abolish Sunday pub closing and to end the ban on Saturday-night extensions, with the summer tourist trade in mind, was shelved by the Government, just before the Dail rose.

There was strong opposition from Fianna Fail backbenchers, three independent TDs and a powerful lobby led by the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, which represents some 6,000 pubs outside Dublin. The VFI expressed "bitter disappointment" that the proposed legislation did not include a general extension to 12.30 a.m. closing, with half-hour drinking-up time all year. It said the Bill was mere "tinkering" with the law and fell far short of the reform promised by the Minister.