A round-up of today's other stories in brief...

Vintners say below-cost sale of alcohol in stores destroying pubs

Below-cost selling of alcohol in supermarkets is destroying the pub sector, the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) told an Oireachtas committee yesterday, writes Laura Slattery. VFI chief executive Padraig Cribben said alcohol in supermarkets was being promoted and marketed “in the same way as biscuits or bananas or beans”. Higher levels of drinking at home were creating “a major problem” with underage drinking as it was “very hard to control” intake in the home, he said.

Fine Gael TD Olivia Mitchell said she found it “very hard to believe” the VFI concern was underage drinking. “I would just question the idea that the pub is more regulated than the home, where presumably there are responsible adults.”

Over 1,200 days lost to disputes, says CSO

More than 1,200 working days were lost to industrial disputes in the third quarter of this year, according to data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This was significantly down on the 66,826 days lost in the same period last year. Three disputes involving 116 workers in the administrative and support service activities sector accounted for 69 per cent of the 1,222 days lost in the three months ending September 30th.

A further 379 days were lost in the industry sector where there was one dispute involving 40 workers.

McNamara staff seek clarification

Workers at the head offices of Michael McNamara Construction stopped work yesterday amid demands for clarification of issues surrounding the receivership of the company.

Workers and management held talks in the company’s Ormond Quay offices in Dublin for about an hour before staff returned to work.

A number of staff emerging at lunchtime refused to speak to the media, while Shane McAleer of receivers Farrell Grant Sparks said he could make no comment.

The move follows concern among subcontractors at the company’s Tallaght site on Friday after a bulldozer was used to temporarily block the site entrance. The company was put into receivership last Thursday after months of talks between the company and Nama.