An explosion at an industrial gas plant in Billingham, northern England, last month put constraints on the supply of CO 2gas to the drinks industry, prompting fears that stocks of cider and soft drinks in Ireland could be affected.

Industry sources have told the Sunday Tribune that continuing hot weather would put a further serious strain on drinks supplies, but the Beverage Council of Ireland and a number of major drinks manufacturers say consumers will not be left gasping for fizzy drinks.

"There was an explosion and it did create a shortage of CO 2gas for the Irish drinks industry but the situation has been managed very well and we don't envisage any shortages of drinks for the Irish market, " said Gaynor Hickey of the Beverage Council of Ireland.

"We represent most of the soft drinks manufacturers in Ireland and every company has a contingency plan in the event of something like this happening so they all seem to be coping really well with the shortage."

Carbon dioxide is essential in creating all kinds of fizzy drinks. It is dissolved into drinks formulas so that when a bottle or can is opened, the escaping CO 2gas forms bubbles.

Terra Nitrogen, the UK's biggest producer of CO 2, had to shut down its plant after the fire on 1 June and, as repairs are continuing, production is not expected to resume until later this month.

Irish company C&C, which makes Bulmers cider and a range of soft drinks including Club Orange, saw fit to raise the CO 2scare at its recent AGM. Playing down the seriousness of the fizz shortage, it said in a statement: "While this supply constraint is impacting certain aspects of its business, C&C does not currently expect that it will have a material adverse effect on the group's overall financial performance in 2006/'07."

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola Ireland said: "There is an unprecedented situation in terms of supply, but there has been no major effect to date. It is an industry concern and it would not be appropriate for us to comment any further about it."