Taioseach Enda Kenny has indicated that duty on alcohol will not be changed in next week's budget, according to reports.
Excise duty was raised in the 2013 and 2014 budgets, however it seems that Finance Minister Michael Noonan will not raise the price of a pint in Budget 2016.
Both the LVA and the VFI, the representative bodies for publicans in Ireland, have had a long-standing campaign to reduce tax on alcohol in Ireland.
Padraig Cribben, chief executive of the VFI, told Hospitality Ireland that high tax on alcohol in Ireland affects tourism. "The real issue is when you compare excise in ireland with excise elsewhere we're way over the European norm," he said. "So when you get tourists doing the comparison and they think that it's expensive here, they're right."
The indication that tax will not be increased will be of some relief to publicans, as pressure groups such as Alcohol Action Ireland have called for the duty to be raised for a third straight year.
