A dry Good Friday - Bar veto is out of date

IT seems anachronistic that our licensing laws should be influenced by the calendar of the Catholic church but they still are.

Christmas Day and Good Friday are the only two days our bars are precluded from opening.

This year that outdated veto will be seen as irrelevant to modern, multicultural Ireland.

Limerick’s clubs and publicans want to open their bars on Good Friday because Munster host Leinster at Thomond Park.

Ideally this should be a bumper day for Limerick but this may not come to pass unless bar owners are granted exemptions.

But what about the Leinster fans who want to watch the game in a bar in Dublin?

This law no longer reflects how we live our lives and should be changed. After all, publicans who still want to close their premises can do so.

And it would be a poor host indeed who would not afford guests an opportunity to drown their sorrows.