Great fear that new Sale of Alcohol Bill could undermine pub trade in rural Tipperary

Proposed changes to licensing laws will threaten the future of traditional Irish pubs and have a detrimental impact on the industry, a Thurles publican has warned.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee announced plans recently through the proposed Sale of Alcohol Bill, which is going to deregulate the pubs sector with the removal of a limit on the number of alcohol licences to try to revitalise rural Ireland.

However, local pub owner and member of the the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) Kieran Linnane fears the proposal to abolish extinguishment – the system that allows a new pub to open only when another pub permanently closes – will threaten the existence of countless pubs and bars in towns and villages in rural Tipperary, and Ireland as a whole.

“The Irish pub is a very special thing,” Linnane remarked.

“Countries all over the world try to recreate and we’re here in Ireland trying to kill it.”

The VFI have been vocal in recent weeks and months in the wake of this proposed legislation and have time and again voiced their concerns, believing that pubs are in decline in rural Ireland due to demographics and changing consumer habits as it is, and Linnane believes the move will have the opposite effect to what the Government intends. “It’s going to be counterproductive to what they actually want to achieve,” he said.

“For example, if you take a village that has a good pub in it, next minute it’s decided that someone is going to put another pub there. Say a third pub pops up after it, all the business is going to be taken from the pub that was serving the locality well.

“The country pub is struggling is at is in most cases, so adding more pubs on top of it is only going to make matters worse. It’s completely counterproductive.

“Another pub say, out in the village in Holycross is not going to serve Holycross in the long run,” he added.

Rural transport

Speaking on what could be done to alleviate the strain on rural pubs and actually make tangible changes to help struggling businesses in the towns and villages across rural Ireland, Linnane reckons that transportation is the main issue facing people and publicans in the countryside.

“They have to just look after what is already there.

“What they really need to start looking at is how they can provide a service in rural areas to get people to and from the pubs. That’s what we really need to be looking at.

“It’s fine for the people up in Dublin who have public transport, a footpath with a light over their head, but people in rural areas when they go to the local pub, just don’t have that option.

“There’s more than enough pubs in the country as it is to service the wants of the population. I believe there’s something like one pub for every 300 people in the country at the moment. So in fact, we actually have plenty of pubs.

“So I think deregulation isn’t going to help and it will in fact be counterproductive to what the Government is trying to achieve,” he maintained.

Other facets to the Sale of Alcohol Bill will be allowed to stay open until 6am, and pubs will be permitted longer operating hours, which will be put forward to cabinet ministers for approval after being touted last October and would essentially change 200-year old licencing laws in the country.

“I think there’s a lot of scaremongering going on at the minute,” Linnane said in relation to the potential 6am closing time.

“Guards for instance are going to have a huge issue with pubs looking for a licence to open until 6am.

“There are definitely places like Dublin, Cork, Belfast, where a mandate for that sort of pub or nightclub would be useful in a touristy area, but what good will it do in the towns and villages around the country?”

“We can hardly get people into a pub on a Tuesday night at 8 o’clock, so how are we meant to be able to get them in the door at four in the morning?

“I finish up on a weekend night at around half 11 and there are a few pubs in the town that have the late bar open until half two, and then most of the crowd are meant to head over to Hayes’ Hotel’s nightclub is open until six in the morning. Who is going to be policing the whole night through until half six in the morning?

“That is definitely not going to be a runner in my view,” he concluded.