THE TWO ASSOCIATIONS that represent publicans are holding talks that may lead them to join forces.

The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) represents publicans located in the Greater Dublin area while the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) represents publicans located outside Dublin.

It comes after strategic reviews of both organisations over recent months.

Both reviews found that while the organisations were in good financial health and had support amongst their members- there were strong arguments in favour of creating a new unified, national representative organisation.

Next step

The Councils of the two bodies have directed that representatives from both organisations should now meet to explore this possibility in greater detail and to assess its feasibility.

If the two Councils believe that the concept has merit – then it will be put to separate votes of the membership of the two organisations.

It’s expected that these votes would not take place before this time next year.

In a joint statement, Donall O’Keeffe and Padraig Cribben, Chief Executives of the LVA and the VFI respectively, said the two organisations would consider this matter in detail over the coming months;

We have decided that the creation of a new single organisation deserves careful and detailed examination … the LVA and VFI have a great deal in common and have worked closely on various issues over recent years.

“We must now decide whether or not a new organisation would assist us to better represent the interests of our members across the country and enhance the position of the licensed trade which plays such an important role in our local and national economies.”

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