Publicans groups are warning of a “doomsday scenario” for Ireland’s pubs with up to two-thirds facing permanent closure by Christmas as the pandemic continues to devastate the trade.
And the Vintner’s Federation of Ireland has warned that after six months of shutdown, thousands of pubs that were already fighting to maintain their trade are on the edge of complete shutdown.
Scores of pubs have closed across the country as the trade has faced changing social habits, more competition from supermarkets selling cut-pirce booze and rural depopulation, Cork Beo reports.
And the forced closure of pubs due to the coronavirus pandemic has only further damaged the industry.
VFI Chief Executive Padraig Cribben says the support being offered by the state as paltry as has warned this morning that around two-thirds of Ireland’s pubs are on the brink and could closed before Christmas.
The state aid announced for pubs during the week amounts to €16m in various measures.
However, the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) and the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) reacted to the Government package for pubs, saying: “we asked for Support, Not Sympathy and the Government has given us crumbs”.
“This is paltry gesture which shows how little regard this Government has for the troubles of the pub industry,” said Donall O’Keeffe, Chief Executive of the LVA.
“This is the third time the reopening of the pubs has been delayed and they have had weeks to put a package together.
“We had been calling for a plan to support the pub sector since mid-July and this is all the Government managed to put together. It is disappointing in the extreme,” he said.
Padraig Cribben, CEO of VFI stated, “This so-called support package for publicans who are closed almost six months is woefully inadequate. Our members are facing into an autumn of uncertainty with no guidance from Government about how and when they will be allowed reopen.
"In the circumstances, a weekly grant payment was the absolute minimum publicans expected. Publicans are now in complete despair.
“They can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel and these supports will do nothing to ease their fears for the future.
“The Government is allowing thousands of pubs wither on the vine and the damage being done to local communities across the country is incalculable,” he said.
