O'Donoghue warns against drink price increase
Tourism Minister John O'Donoghue has said that competition in Ireland's pub sector may have to be looked at if a 15c price hike on the price of a pint goes ahead.
The Minister said he was extremely concerned about the effect any further increases would have on Ireland's tourism competitiveness.
O'Donoghue said it was clear that Ireland had a "competitiveness issue" that had been borne out time and again around the cost of drink and eating out.
All visitor attitude surveys and his Department's major review of tourism policy also came to this conclusion, O'Donoghue said.
The Minister said today: "I would call upon both brewers and the licensed trade to seriously consider the potential negative impacts of proceeding with drink price increases, which can only exacerbate our existing competitive disadvantage in this area.
"This sort of behaviour can only go so far before it begins to have possibly long-term negative consequences.
"It may also once again raise the issue of the adequacy of competition in the drinks industry," O'Donoghue concluded.
