Pubs to consider reflective bibs for patrons

Publicans are to consider giving high-visibility bibs to customers who are walking home from pubs at night, a Dáil committee was told yesterday.

Paul Stevenson, president of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport that they were considering a pilot project involving keeping a stock of reflective bibs in bars which could be offered to customers who were planning on walking home from the pub after a night out. The bibs could be returned by the customers on their next visit, he said.

Mr Stevenson told the committee that random breath-testing had highlighted the deficiency of public transport for every aspect of rural Ireland.

"This is about the survival of the rural community," he said. "The pub has a role to play and an investment to make in that survival plan."

He suggested that rates relief for pubs might help them to survive in small communities and said that local people could be encouraged to invest and perhaps create employment at local level if a reasonable tax regime, including reductions in vehicle registration tax and Vat, were put in place.

"Where a business purchases a vehicle of 16 seats or more there are very significant tax concessions," Mr Stevenson said. "We believe those concessions should be applied to smaller vehicles used for the purpose of providing a transport service at local level."

Olivia Mitchell (FG) said that the current number of deaths of pedestrians on the roads reflected the fact that more people were walking home from the pub rather than driving over the limit. She suggested that bibs could be sold or perhaps could carry an advertisement for the pub concerned.