The Licensed Vintners' Association (LVA), which represents 95 per cent of Dublin public houses, yesterday presented Minister for Justice Michael McDowell with a submission outlining its opposition to the introduction of cafe bar licences.
LVA chief executive Donall O'Keeffe said the proposed cafe bars would add to binge drinking and public order problems and would place financial pressure on existing public houses.
"Make no mistake about it, cafe bars will to all intents and purposes operate as small pubs in the Irish context, essentially indistinguishable from small pubs at night. The Minister cannot guarantee otherwise."
He said Mr McDowell had overlooked the complete liberalisation of the restaurant trade as an alternative to cafe bars, a proposal the LVA supported fully.
Mr O'Keeffe said a survey showed that 81 per cent of Irish people believed there were enough or too many pubs in Ireland. "We should learn the lessons of our neighbours in the UK who introduced more alcohol licences in the 1990s and this led to an increase in public order disturbances."
There was a misconception that so-called superpubs were dominant in Ireland when 71 per cent of public houses were small businesses.
The LVA was calling on the Minister to bring forward evidence to support his view that introducing more small pubs or cafe bars would lessen binge drinking and result in major cultural change.
Mr McDowell is accepting submissions on the introduction of cafe bars and other aspects of the Intoxicating Liquor Bill until 6pm today.