Vintners angered at leaders' Australia trip

Members of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland have called for a no confidence vote in their leaders after it emerged that two senior members left for an 11-day trip to Australia in the middle of their campaign against the smoking ban.

Mr Neil Murphy, chairman of the Cork branch of the VFI, said he had been inundated with phone calls from angry members who were threatening to quit the organisation over the incident.

The chief executive, Mr Tadg O'Sullivan, and president, Mr Joe Browne, travelled to the Rugby World Cup last week as guests of Heineken following a special meeting of 1,200 members in Portlaoise in response to the Government's smoking ban.

However, Mr Murphy said members in the Cork region were angry that the leadership should leave on the trip within hours of what was seen as a successful meeting. "The amount of people that have been in touch with me about the issue is incredible," he told RTÉ's News At One. "I have got approximately 40 individual calls and . . . I got a call from a branch treasurer in a large town in the county threatening 25 to 30 cancellations of membership."

He added: "If word had got out about the trip, they wouldn't have got out of Portlaoise, not to mind the country."

Mr Murphy said the campaign against the smoking ban was the single biggest issue to face the organisation in its 30-year history and the membership should have its full focus on addressing it.

However, the VFI leadership insisted that business was continuing as usual and that a special meeting would be held today to discuss its campaign.