Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the witnesses. I have some knowledge of this issue as I was close to setting up a craft brewery about 15 years ago and I have done considerable research on the sector although some of it is a little old at this stage.

With respect to a supplier power structure in Ireland, there is quite a degree of supplier power here in that there is a small number of suppliers in general and they exert considerable influence over their customers. The position was worse a number of years ago, even to the point that many pubs were fearful of taking on taps from some of the craft breweries in that they would get less attractive contracts and deals from the larger breweries. However, that has subsided somewhat at this stage.

I agree with what Mr. Mulholland said. Alcohol is a special type of product in that it has great social uses but it also has great social dangers, so it has to be treated slightly differently from other types of products.

My view is that the on-trade market is far more attractive for many reasons. There is greater safety in the consumption of the products and there is added social value. We have had major retrenchment in the last years, with thousands of jobs lost and hundreds of pubs closed.

What has the British Government done to promote whiskey distilleries and craft breweries? There has been a focus on tax, especially for the Scottish whisky sector. Have any other steps been taken? Are there any key performance indicators of the success of those steps, such as the number of jobs saved or created?

Is there anything in British legislation that ties business rates to the profitability of the business, or that brings in an element of progressiveness? In respect of the tied structure, I believe the healthiest market structure in this area would be perfect competition between the pubs themselves and perfect competition between the suppliers. In other words, there would be a large number of independent suppliers and pubs. That would be best for the consumer as it would create diversity, variety and good competition on price and quality.