Madam, - The Licensed Vintners' Association has triumphed again. No continental-style cafe bars. They work fine on the continent, mind, but they wouldn't work here. Not with our "culture". But do not despair: we can always go to restaurants rather than pubs if we want to meet up with a few friends for a chat over drinks or coffees.
Yeah, right. I can picture the maitre d's eagerness to find us a nice table after we've explained that we've already had the fish fingers and chips at home, thank you, so we won't be eating, we're just here for a chat and a couple of quiet jars. Hobson's choice: one, the jam-packed pubs (whose stranglehold the Minister claims to be trying to break), or two, a restaurant, where, in addition to your few drinks, you also have to buy a meal that you neither want nor can afford as the cost of eating out in Ireland is the highest in Europe.
This ludicrous new development is meaningless. It maintains the status quo, funnelling us sheep, as always, straight into the premises of the members of the LVA where we can be fleeced of our money for as long as we are able to swallow the hard stuff, at which point they chuck us out on the street where we immediately became the State's problem.
The rebellion by elected representatives against the cafe bar idea is a scary reminder of the insidious power of the vested interests, not to mention the hallowed, almost divine, position that alcohol and the pub hold in our society.
If the over-consumption of alcohol is a problem for society (and there seems to be no argument about that) then people who promote the consumption of alcohol are, by definition, acting against the best interests of society. The Government, on the other hand, is elected to work in the best interests of society. Therefore the two organisations are natural enemies - the LVA predators, the Government protectors. So why allow the LVA anywhere near committees and think-tanks? It's the farmer inviting the fox on to the sub-committee for hen house security.
The minister has been roundly routed - thrashed by the LVA and its lobbyist henchmen. Pretending that things have changed in any significant way is just adding insult to injury. Some day, some braver Minister may stand up to the LVA and to hell with the consequences. I mean, what can they do? Go on strike? And even if they did, so what? It's not as if they are important members of the community, like bus drivers or rubbish collectors. - Yours, etc,
MAURICE O'SCANAILL, Clifden, Co Galway.
Madam, - Frank Butler (June 14th) surely goes too far in calling Fianna Fáil the Publican Party. Fianna Fáil is merely the political wing of the Publican Movement. - Yours, etc,
LARRY O'NEILL, Seacliff Road, Dublin 13.