The ieBusiness Podcast: Publican Benny McCabe slams overbearing regulations

The publican is one of Cork's top proponents of city living

Mon, 29 Sep, 2025 - 06:09

Emer Walsh

Cork publican and owner of the Heritage Pub Trail, Benny McCabe has called for a drastic overhaul of regulations to make way for ambitious plans to enhance city living.

Speaking to business journalist Emer Walsh in the latest episode of The ieBusiness Podcast, in association with PwC, Mr McCabe said overbearing regulations meant pushes to revitalise over-the-shop living would not be successful.

“We’re left with all these great aspirations to live over stores and down laneways but it never happens due to overbearing regulations and fire laws,” the Cork publican told the Irish Examiner.

“I’ve done a rough count, and I reckon we could house between 6,000 and 7,000 additional people in the city centre without constructing a single building, just by bending the rules to acknowledge new tech in fire safety, as well as acknowledging that we have some of the strictest laws in Europe.”

In a wage-ranging podcast interview, Mr McCabe said that while many buildings were vacated in the aftermath of the Stardust fire, in which 48 people died and a further 214 people were injured as a result of outdated legislation and breaches of fire regulations, the publican said it was now a crime to leave these buildings empty in the current housing crisis.

“Are we making a choice, as a society, to leave these buildings empty because they only have one exit, or the stairs are too steep. The result of that is condemning somebody to living in a doorway, or a family condemned to living in a hotel? Try and educate your kids in a hotel.”

“The solution to this in Cork is all around us. I see hundreds of potential units and it can all be done without planning and without consensus,” Mr McCabe said, adding that this would also have a knock-on effect for younger generations eager to gain independence.

“This helps foster innovation, it helps foster the arts and it allows kids to experiment, which has given us all these great bands and artists in Cork.” Speaking on its role as a cultural hub, Mr McCabe said while the city possessed significant potential, it was still lacking when it came to viable infrastructure to support the arts.

“We have to see this event centre built. I find that, as a taxpayer, that we have to get on the train, buy tickets, go to Dublin to escort our children to go to gigs and come all the way back down feeling miserable – that is all a form of taxation as far as I am concerned.

“The benefit to the city as a whole is not just live music, it is conferences, the whole lot. Nobody realises that that feeds back into foreign direct investment. Now we can have a forum here. So many people want to bring all their staff to Cork, but there is no 5,000 or 6,000 seater venue to host them.”

“If you are going to use taxpayer money, it needs to be in the city centre.”