The Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI) has called on drinks suppliers to refrain from imposing a price increase next month and has asked the Joint Oireachtas Committee to support a freeze of further price rises.
Speaking at the VFI's Annual General Meeting in Cork today, VFI president Mr Séamus O'Donoghue claimed profit margins in rural pubs were "extremely low".
He said over 200 pubs had closed since the introduction of the smoking ban in March 2004 and that "few, if any" could afford increased costs on a profit margin of 32c per pint sold.
Mr O'Donoghue repeated his call on the Government to change the current smoking ban legislation in favour of less stringent regulations, claiming the ban was "anything but successful".
He claimed volume sales in pubs had declined between 10 and 15 per cent since the introduction of the ban, "and in some cases by as much as 25 per cent".
Mr O'Donoghue also complained that when prosecutions have taken place under the smoking legislation, they have been "exclusively against licensees rather than against customers caught smoking".
He said the VFI was not aware "of one single case" where a smoker has been challenged, let alone prosecuted.
"We do not expect the ban to be rescinded," he said. "We just want accommodation so that the hospitality industry can be hospitable."
