Irish Examiner View: Far too early to call time on closed pubs

Minister for Health Simon Harris echoed that when he said he could not see how people could return to “packed pubs” while the virus was still in the community and in the absence of a vaccine.

One of the still-stinging catchcries from our last economic implosion is that the banks at the root of the catastrophe were too big to be allowed fail.

Another with renewed relevance, one that underlines what too big to fail really means, is that that profits were privatised but losses were socialised.

That principle is alive in tax arrangements that allow historic losses be written off against contemporary bank profits. Will that indulgence be extended to cover the looming recession?

It is far too early in this crisis to assign the Too Big To Fail Awards but there are contenders.

Airlines knowingly dodging consumer protection legislation are in the running but the early favourite seems to be the insurance sector. Their evasions redefine what it is to be mercurial and unreliable.

One of many frontlines in that battle is between insurers and publicans.

Publicans who invested in business or income protection policies are so frustrated with insurers’ refusals to deliver their side of the premium/cover bargain that they are ready to take legal action.

The Licensed Vintners’ Association (LVA) claims “the insurance industry is ... going to fight it all the way, they are grinding people down, testing people’s stamina, and they have no intention of paying out.”

Publicans paying rents though their customers are but memories are increasingly frustrated by insurers dodging obligations.

The publicans’ lobby earlier warned that many pubs may not reopen.

That prospect seems particularly real for many rural pubs which moves this issue beyond the commercial to the cultural because, despite all the undeniable negatives around alcohol abuse, the vast majority of people who use pubs do so responsibly.

A night in the pub is so ingrained in our culture that, despite what a contemporary Fr Matthew might argue, a few hours among friends sharing a beer is as much a part of Irish life as anything else.

It is also one of the attractions we use to flog Ireland as a tourist destination.

Indeed, the thousands of Irish pubs around the world are almost unofficial embassies. Pubs are most of all social outlets for those whose lives might otherwise be more insular than is healthy.

That argument will be more and more pertinent as more and more people work from home.

France, where bars and restaurants have been shut for five weeks, will decide at the end of next month when it will allow them reopen.

However, the government is warning against a premature reopening.

Minister for Health Simon Harris echoed that when he said he could not see how people could return to “packed pubs” while the virus was still in the community and in the absence of a vaccine.

Unsurprisingly, publicans said these remarks “petrified” the sector.

British figures suggest closing pubs may not reduce alcohol consumption by much as supermarket drinks sales have jumped by more than 30% since the pandemic hit.

There is a strong argument for a scheme to rejuvenate pubs once the time comes, especially family pubs.

That programme could be an exercise in real burden sharing between government, publicans, drinks suppliers, those who use pubs and, most of all, the insurance sector.

No matter how it’s dressed up, Ireland would be a poorer and much duller place without them.