A director of Boru Vodka, the Irishmade spirit introduced last summer, has accused Irish Distillers of being afraid of competition, after the drinks group complained to the Director of Consumer Affairs that the Boru product was not 100 per cent grain spirit, contrary to the claim on its label. Mr Pat Rigney, a former director of Bailey's and currently joint managing director of Boru, denied the claims made by Irish Distillers and said the vodka had "impeccable product characteristics".

"It is made from 100 per cent grain, Irish spring water and filtered through Atlantic Irish oak charcoal," he said.

But a spokesman for Irish Distillers said the company would not get into "a marketing debate". Both companies are now making contrary claims based on respective independent chemical analyses of the product. One side, Irish Distillers is claiming that one batch of sampled vodka contained whey alcohol, while Boru stated that "laboratory tests on samples from one small batch of our product, produced some months ago, were inconclusive". The Director of Consumer Affairs, Ms Carmel Foley, confirmed that a complaint had been made and the product had been analysed. Her office would issue a statement today.

A spokesman for Irish Distillers said although whey alcohol, used from a milk by-product, was a legitimate, good quality alcohol, "the claim of what they made it from is the problem".

Mr Rigney said the product was made in Ballineen, in west Cork, in small batches, it was "a battle between a new indigenous Irish company and a French owned multinational which is afraid of competition". Boru has undertaken to the Director of Consumer Affairs that it is willing to withdraw any remaining product from this batch.

But Mr Rigney said Boru had won an award as best new vodka in the US and the Irish Distillers action was "designed to limit the development of Boru vodka". Boru had produced 250,000 bottles of vodka for the Irish market and was taking 15 to 20 per cent of the business from its competitor, Huzzar Vodka, which is Irish Distillers-owned. The company expected to have a £2.5 million turnover in its first year of operations.

Boru's other joint managing director is Mr David Phelan, who is also a former Bailey's director. Carbery, a minority shareholder, is distilling the product.

"This is only happening because we are successful and the Irish consumer is embracing the brand," he added.

Irish Distillers stated it routinely analysed samples of distilled products.