At least one publican is supporting Mr Tom Kitt's drive to hold down the price of a pint. Mr John Moloney, a Fianna Fail TD who runs a pub in Co Laois, warned colleagues in the bar business that the lifting of price controls did not give them a free hand to increase prices.
If fellow publicans increased their prices, he had no doubt the Minister would move to deregulate the trade, a trend which he would not like to see. He said there would always be those who would take quick advantage, no matter what trade was focused on. "Mr McCreevy, the Minister for Finance, reduced the VAT take on the price of liquor and that should have meant a 2p decrease in the price of a pint.
"I can understand why some publicans would say increases in wages and overheads could account for that 2p, especially members of the LVA, but to expect the Minister and the Government to withstand a price increase of 14p is totally outrageous," he told Midland Radio 3 during the week.
"I totally support Mr Kitt's appeal to the Licensed Vintners' Association and the Vintners' Federation of Ireland to recognise that what we are looking at now is a demand for deregulation of the trade." He said the Minister did not want to reintroduce "the blunt instrument" of price control but the commission dealing with the future of the trade had been looking at the option of deregulation.
He would not like to see deregulation because of the impact it would have on so many family-run businesses.
"The warning shot is there. The lifting of price control does not mean carte blanche to increase prices," he concluded.