The European Commission has not received complaints about Ireland's pub licensing rules, and would be unlikely to seek their abolition despite warnings from Minister for Justice Michael McDowell.
The Minister has repeatedly warned that the rules, which require the extinguishment of an old pub licence before a new one can be opened, could infringe EU trade rules.
In the Dáil on Tuesday he said he was "acutely conscious" that the retention of the extinguishments regulation without the corresponding introduction of new cafe bar licences would be seen as a barrier to trade.
The licence regulation has been in place since 1902, and is designed to limit the number of outlets where alcohol is available on public health grounds. It has had the effect of making licences worth €175,000.
However, the European Commission internal market directorate general, which is headed by former minister for finance Charlie McCreevy, was yesterday less than enthusiastic about intervening.
"We have never had a complaint, and we don't have enough information about it now," said an internal market spokesperson, who confirmed that it had sought details of the Minister's proposed legislation.
"The pub licence is a restriction on trade, but the issue is whether it is proportional or not. Nobody here is anxious about it at the moment," The Irish Times was told.
"Member states are free to organise their own systems, though the general freedoms in the treaty [ of Rome] apply," the spokesperson added.
In addition, there was "a very considerable amount of jurisprudence" from the European Court of Justice that made it clear that EU states could regulate alcohol consumption in the public good.
In 1997 the court ruled in favour of the Swedish government's long-standing monopoly on alcohol sales.
"The court said the restrictions were justified on grounds of public health, and there have been a number of similar other cases," an EU official told The Irish Times last night.
The court ruled the monopoly was not a restraint of trade under EU law because it applied equally to foreign and domestic products, and because it was justified for health reasons.
The Swedish government had argued that it was entitled to limit retail drink sales to curb consumption.
The Licensed Vintners' Association (LVA) said it was waiting to see if the Minister would make changes to the extinguishments rule when he produced the final draft of the Intoxicating Liquor Bill this year. "We are not aware of the EU angle on all of this," said LVA chief executive Donall O'Keeffe.
Meanwhile, Mr McDowell is unlikely to return to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party to discuss bar legislation before the summer recess. A number of Fianna Fáil deputies and senators, who were keen that Mr McDowell would suspend work on the legislation until the party agreed its own policy, had pushed at last Tuesday's meeting for his return next week.
However, most deputies spoken to by The Irish Times are irritated that they have been closely tied to the vintners' lobby even though they believed the Minister's cafe bar proposal needed to be stopped. "We legislate for the public, not for publicans," said one highly regarded FF backbencher who spoke on condition of anonymity.
