POLL: Should alcohol be sold on Good Friday?

Publicans have re-iterated their annual call for a lifting of the ban on Good Friday sales of alcohol, a move they argue is critical ahead of the Easter 2016 celebrations.

Both the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA), representing 600 Dublin publicans, and the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI), representing 4,200 pubs outside the capital, said it made no business sense for pubs to remain closed on one of the busiest weekends of the year.

Chief executive of the LVA, Donall O’Keeffe, said the current law amounted to discrimination against the licensed trade.