Last orders for many Irish pubs
Almost 1000 pubs have closed in Ireland since 2006 and Irish publicans are warning that a further 5000 jobs will be lost during 2012. According to a report in the Financial Times on 8 January 2012, bar sales have fallen by almost a third since 2006 and there are now just 7509 licensed pubs in a country of 4.5 million people.
“There are many reasons for the decline of the pubs, but they centre around changing lifestyles, regulatory changes and the weak economy,” Padraig Cribben, Chief Executive of the Vintners Federation of Ireland, a lobby group for the pub industry, was quoted as saying. “People are cash poor due to the recession, and [retail] sales have become a lot cheaper.”
Competition from supermarket chains has intensified since a change in the law in Ireland in 2006 removed a ban on below-cost selling of alcohol. The retail trade now accounts for more than 50 percent of the EUR 6 billion drinks market in Ireland.
Changing consumer tastes favour this off-licence and supermarket trade. Consumption of wine, which is typically drunk at home rather than in the pub, has doubled over the past decade to 88 million litres annually. Wine sales have continued to rise during the recession while sales of pub staples – beer, spirits and ciders – have all fallen, the Financial Times reports.
Publicans have lobbied their government for business rates relief, a reduction in excise duty and regulatory action to tackle below-cost selling of alcohol by supermarket groups. But to no avail.
Instead, in December 2011 the Irish government introduced a 2 percent increase in sales taxes to 23 percent in the 2012 budget as part of EUR 3.8 billion in austerity measures required to meet Ireland’s targets under its bail-out programme with the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
However, as in Scotland, the Irish government is considering setting a minimum price on alcoholic beverages to counteract health concerns surrounding young people and alcohol abuse. But concerns over possible legal actions taken by the drinks industry mean that any decision on setting a minimum price faces considerable hurdles.
