Drink Talking: Pat Nolan

The Irish smoking ban has exacted a terrible toll on publicans says Pat Nolan, editor of Drinks Industry Ireland.

Ireland's smoking ban has been one long drag for publicans since its March introduction.

Estimates of the drop in pub sales around the country vary from five to 30 per cent, depending on the pub, its location and on whether it is "landlocked" (without an outside area for smokers to pursue their pleasure). Seamus O'Donoghue, president of the 6,500-strong rural Vintners Federation of Ireland, claims there is no sign of a return to pubs by non-smokers - who have been forced away in the past because of smoke.

The problem is that available evidence to date is anecdotal. It's too early for official stats, too early to judge the damage the ban itself has caused.

It's in there with a fug of other problems for the Irish licensed trade which last year saw alcohol consumption drop by six per cent - the first fall in 16 years. You see, while the trade here is reeling from the inevitable slide in sales following the Celtic Tiger years of the 1990s, it's taken a body blow from changing demographics in the population's age. It is alsogetting a pummelling from complaints over high pricing in pubs. All this has led to a soaring off-trade market. On-trade sales were down six per cent in the year to June 2004 while off-trade sales were up by around seven. The smoking ban has certainly helped galvanise this drift towards having a drink at home.

Whereas before hard facts absented themselves from the debate due to the novelty of the situation, statistics filtering through now suggest things are getting even gloomier for Ireland's licensed trade.

The novelty took just one month to wear off. Sales of draught beer in April - the month immediately following the smoking ban's introduction - remained largely unchanged on a par with those of the previous April, states the Irish Brewers Association.

However, the May figures indicate a dramatic fall in draught sales of nearly 10 per cent when compared to the same period in 2003.

The spectre of redundancies in the licensed trade seems particularly close at hand for pubs in Dublin.

The human resources executive for the Dublin Licensed Vintners Association, Ursula Sherlock, says her phone has not stopped ringing.

One manager told her he'd advertised for a barman recently and got 80 responses.

And this is at a time when beer gardens are still an attractive smoking proposition in a mild Irish autumn.