‘It’s a total disaster ... life in the country is over’

SIPPING a pint at Pa O’Riordan’s pub in Athlacca yesterday, Joe Mulcahy summed up the plight of rural drinkers.

“It’s not a disaster. It’s a total disaster,” he said.

Joe, a 64-year-old retired farmer, used go for a drink most nights.

“I have just two small Jamesons and two pints. They help with the heart complaint I had.”

Joe admits he used to drive the two miles from his home at Drombeg to Pa O’Riordan’s Anglers Rest pub in the village. A nightly routine for years.

“I have to walk in by day now as there are no public lights and if I walked at night I could get killed on the road. Life in the country is over. People like a few drinks but most of us can’t come out at night to meet friends in the pub over a few pints.”

And the women of Limerick are being called on to help fight the decline of rural pubs, it emerged yesterday.

The Vintners’ Federation is to seek support from a wide spectrum of rural organisations, including the Irish Countrywomen’s Association (ICA), to try and fight pub closures in country areas. David Hickey, a former Vintners’ Federation of Ireland president and the Limerick representative on the group’s national executive, said this would be part of a huge lobby ahead of the General Election.

It is estimated that more than 30 rural pubs in Limerick have closed down over the past three years.

Mr Hickey said the Vintners’ Federation intend to seek the backing of rural groups such as the IFA and the ICA in their fight to save rural pubs.

“We will be looking for the backing of all in rural Ireland because it is the people of rural Ireland who are being affected,” he said.

Mr Hickey said many rural pubs in Co Limerick were reporting a 50% downturn in business since the introduction of random breath-testing.

“People who have to drink at home will drink more. The fellow who goes to the pub has a few pints. But when somebody opens a bottle of whiskey or wine at home, they’ll finish it. Pubs are a controlled environment as far as drinking is concerned.”

Pa McGrath’s pub in Boher is owned by Liam Lynch. He has been in the trade for over 30 years and has never experienced the despondency in the trade that exists now: “A lot of pubs are now on the border line and I estimated that in the next two years or so up to 50% of rural pubs in Limerick will be forced to close.”

He said trade had fallen by more than 20% in recent months.

“For many publicans, the situation has gone beyond the point of no return. I know publicans who have their minds made up to close. There was despair in the trade before the random breath testing. Now it has gone beyond that.”

He said a pub suffering a 10% drop in business would be in trouble.

“We took a big drop in trade with the ban on smoking and now we are taking another huge blow to trade.”

Athlacca is to lose one of it’s three pubs in coming weeks. Pat O’Riordan said things had never been so bad.

“It’s bad and getting worse. One of the three pubs here is closing shortly. I have never seen the bar trade so bad in all my days and I have spent 32 years in the licensed trade.”