The cartel that controls the pub trade in Ireland must be abolished. A cartel is a group of producers whose goal it is to fix prices, to limit supply and to limit competition. It is simply wrong for a limited group of wealthy individuals to control the number of pubs in Ireland.

Licenses change hands for sky-high prices and it is the consumer who suffers. Our older pubs are being expanded or destroyed in order to assist this feeding frenzy of profit and greed. Old Victorian interiors are ripped out. Then the pub doubles or trebles in size to fit in more people. Many of the seats are removed and the heat is turned up. Then in come the televisions, down goes the lights, the music is cranked up, the prices increased, and a super-pub is born. A generation of lager louts walk out onto the streets tanked up at closing time, and the fights begin. Our planning laws need to be tightened up to stop super-pubs from taking over the centre of our towns and villages. I’m pleased that I shouted stop in the midst of the Temple Bar frenzy of pub expansion. Sadly no one was listening as the developers and speculators destroyed a neighbourhood that had been previously been known for its small-scale character and intimate bars.

There’s got be an alternative.  I do believe that the plan to allow for smaller café style bars is a good one. It’s a real shame that it was shelved by a group of Fianna Fail backbenchers, led by one of their number who just happens to be a publican. More smaller pubs are something that the Green Party has been seeking for many years. How is it that you can pick up a bar license in Paris for €50,000 when over here you would need half a million euro to even think about the idea. It’s no accident that people in continental Europe have a civilized drinking culture. Their laws encourage smaller pubs where the emphasis is on both food and drink. Up to a few years ago you could count on one hand the amount of places that could serve you a bottle of beer with your pizza. Thankfully there has been some movement in this area, but it could go much further.

It always amazed me at City Council meetings how councilors went on an on about the need to introduce bylaws to stop young people from drinking in our parks. Don’t they realize that what is really needed is more facilities for teenagers. Its no wonder they turn to drink when there isn’t a swimming pool or a skate park within miles of where they live. However you can be sure that there is a pub or an off-license nearby.

Ireland does need controls over the amount and the type of places to drink. However allowing the cartel to maintain its status quo will do little to tackle the drink culture that stifles our nation’s progress.