Extended trading hours and a national identity card scheme will be among the issues debated in Tralee, Co Kerry, when 500 members of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland gather for its 25th annual conference.
According to the organisation, a detailed survey on behaviour and attitudes among the public has shown that 84 per cent of adults agree that publicans should have the right not to serve those who are causing or may be about to cause trouble in pubs.
The outgoing president of the VFI, Mr Paul O'Grady, said the publican's right to refuse a customer has never been taken lightly by the public house proprietor, whose main concern was always the safety of customers and staff.
The right to refuse, he added, was written into the Equal Status Act but had been found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. However, new legislation was on the way and the VFI was confident that the legislators would reflect the concerns of its members.
The vast majority of Irish people as well as tourists enjoyed Irish pubs and entered them without any intention of causing harm. But there were times when a publican could easily detect that an individual had been adversely affected by drink and in such situations it should be open to the publican to use his or her powers of discretion.
Today the VFI will debate calls for a reform of legislation on opening hours. There will also be a discussion on why customers waiting for taxis in pubs after hours should not be deemed to have broken the law.
The VFI is also expected to call on the major drink suppliers not to compete directly with publicans by opening their own public houses.
The federation will also debate the price of screening BSkyB television in Irish pubs, which it claims is anomalous when compared to charges in Northern Ireland and England. The campaign to keep illegal drugs out of pubs is also on the agenda.