PROVINCIAL publicans were given leave in the High Court yesterday to challenge a ministerial order preventing them from increasing the price of drink.
The Vintners' Federation of Ireland, representing 6,000 publicans from outside Dublin city and county, were given leave by Mr Justice Kelly to challenge the Retail Prices (Intoxicating Liquor) Order 1997 made by the Minister of State for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Pat Rabbitte, on March 7th last.
Mr John Gordon SC, for the federation, said it was seeking to quash the order under which prices were rolled back to those of November 4th last. The Dublin publicans had agreed with the Minister not to increase prices. He said the order was discriminatory and outside the powers of the Minister under the Prices Acts.
Mr Tadg O'Sullivan, chief executive of the federation, in an affidavit, said members were extremely concerned about the effect of the order. Different economic circumstances applied to the licensed trade outside Dublin.
The average price of a pint of Guinness was significantly lower in, for instance, Limerick and Kerry than it was in Dublin. An average price in a country public house for a pint of Guinness would be about £1.95 whereas in Dublin the average price might be £2.15 or £2.20 per pint. Local authority rates had significantly increased in country areas in the past few years.
The Minister apparently had a meeting with the Dublin Vintners last January as a result of alleged price increases in certain Dublin pubs. A voluntary price freeze appeared to have been agreed by the Minister with the Licensed Vintners Association, representing Dublin publicans.
A meeting with the federation's members and the Minister was arranged on February 18th last. The differences in the pub trade between Dublin and the rest of the State were specifically pointed out to the Minister. The Minister indicated that he was not particularly interested in economic arguments and that an order had already been prepared. He simply requested that a voluntary price freeze be agreed for the entire State.
Mr O'Sullivan said the Minister indicated that once the order was made it would not be politically possible for it to be varied in advance of a general election. The Minister expected prices to be rolled back to November 1996 levels.
The federation members were invited back to a further meeting on March 4th last. The Minister was extremely concerned about adverse media attention to the controversy and indicated that as far as he was concerned all the State would have to be subject to a priffle free.
Mr O'Sullivan said the order was going to have a serious effect on the legitimate economic interests of federation members. As long as the price freeze continued it would not be possible for any of the members to consider refurbishing their premises or adding additional facilities.