Murphy Brewery and three other companies were given leave by the High Court yesterday to challenge a decision of the Competition Authority granting Guinness Group Ireland Limited a certificate to acquire those shares in distribution company UBH Limited which it does not already own.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly gave permission to M J Gleeson, Coman's Wholesale Limited, J Donohue Limited and Murphy Brewery Ireland Limited to bring proceedings by way of judicial review.

The proceedings are against the Competition Authority and Guinness Group Ireland Ltd. The Guinness company already owns 31 per cent of the shares in UBH. The Competition Authority, under a certificate on July 10th last granted under the Competition Act 1991 has now given it permission to acquire the remaining 69 per cent.

The plaintiff companies are submitting that Guinness Group Ireland is already in a dominant position in the beer market. They claim that, in acquiring such a large wholesale distribution company as UBH, Guinness is abusing its dominant position. The decision of the Competition Authority is being appealed, it was stated.

The applicant companies were given leave yesterday to serve notice of motion relating to parallel plenary proceedings against the Competition Authority and Guinness Group Ltd returnable for a sitting of the High Court on August 12th next.