LVMH, the French luxury goods company that manufactures Hennessy, is to press on with a plan to introduce its own brand of Irish whiskey in Japan, despite protests from other French cognac makers. Sources within the company said last night the whiskey, made at the Cooley distillery in Co Louth, would be in bars and restaurants across Japan by the middle of next month.

But it is understood the French spirits giant sees the move solely as a response to the particular conditions of the Japanese market, and has no plans to introduce the Hennessy-brand Irish whiskey in other countries.

Hennessy dominates the Japanese cognac market and is immensely popular with urban office workers who share bottles of the brandy as an after-work ritual. But as the fall of the yen gathered pace this year, Hennessy cognac has come under pressure from local whisky producers.

"The idea is to launch a product which will be capable of competing with these local whiskys, and then reinvest the profits from this to advertise and promote cognac," a source told The Irish Times.

The company was criticised this week by other cognac makers, which threatened to sue LVMH if it did not drop the plan to use the Hennessy brand on the whiskey.

The association of French cognac makers said LVMH's plans "would certainly alter cognac's image, damage its reputation and weaken the cognac name and the brand names under which it is sold". "Hennessy is best known for its cognac," the group said. "The marketing of Hennessy Irish whiskey is an attack on cognac's reputation."

The company has made no comment on the controversy.