THE closure of one in three Cork pubs is ‘not just a sobering statistic but possibly the last gasp of a great tradition’, a Cork TD has warned.
His statement comes as it emerged that Dublin has lost fewer than 2% of its pubs since 2005, while Cork has lost nearly one in three pubs (32.7%) in the same period.
The 19-year total decline for Dublin shows 13 fewer pubs (a 1.7% drop) while across the city and county of Cork there are 399 fewer hostelries (a fall of 32.7%).
Deputy Ken O’Flynn said the figures in the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland report shows the devastating impact of ‘exorbitant VAT rates and punitive levels of operational costs on the Cork pub trade’.
The report shows that since 2005 more than 2,100 pubs have closed across the State – a decline of almost one in four.
In Cork, however the situation is even worse.
The report concludes that the county has lost nearly one in three pubs.
A county-by-county breakdown shows that in Cork there were 1,221 pubs in 2005 but this had dwindled to 822 by 2024 – a loss of 399 hostelries in 19 years.
An analysis of pre and post pandemic numbers reveals that in Cork there were 910 pubs in 2019, 892 in 2020, 873 in 2021, 856 in 2022m 838 in 2023 and 822 in 2024.
This reveals that 88 pubs closed in the space of five years around the time of the COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.
It comes as a survey by The Southern Star revealed that 30% of West Cork farmers still rank the local pub as their chief social outlet, with 41% of farmers admitting feelings of isolation.
‘I have no sense that Government has properly engaged with the profoundly corrosive impact of its policies on Irish pubs and Cork pubs in particular,’ said Deputy O’Flynn.
‘These are prohibitionist polices in all but name.
‘When a pub closes it is often not just the end of a business venture; it is often the collapse of a long family tradition that was at the heart of village, town, and parish life.’
He added: ‘The facts could not be clearer. Government policies are tearing the heart and soul out of the great tradition of the Irish pub and the rural pub in particular.
‘We know this because as the report indicates, Dublin has lost fewer than 2% of its pubs over the same period from 2005. So, while the capital remains largely insulated and fresh, Cork and rural Ireland get the mother of all hangovers, in terms of the pain of rolling closures that show no signs of abating.’
He said publicans were being ‘crushed’ under the weight of the highest alcohol excise in the EU, a 23% VAT rate, soaring operating costs, and weak transport links ‘that leave people with no safe way home’.
He added: ‘In terms of outcomes it is now impossible for families who have run pubs for generations to keep going.
‘They operate in a hostile regulatory environment and a tax environment that makes a mockery of claims to back the entrepreneurial spirit.’
He called on the Government to cut alcohol excise duty by at least 10% and deliver a rebate scheme for rural pubs to achieve ‘balanced regional development’.
He warned: ‘Without action, we face another 600 to 1,000 closures in the next decade, leaving more and more villages to fall silent of their great centres of Irish traditional pub music.’
