Published: Wednesday, 1st September, 2010 6:04pm

Pub trade struggling as hundreds lose jobs

The depth of the crisis in the pub trade locally was laid bare this week as it emerged that hundreds of people in the pub trade in the county have lost jobs or had working hours reduced over the past three years.

As new figures from the Revenue Commissioners revealed that some 31 publicans in Westmeath have still to renew their licences this year, local pubican and Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI) representative Paul Donovan said the bigger issue is the number of jobs lost in the industry over the past three years and the fact that nothing is being done about it.

"The pub trade is struggling. Nothing is coming down - insurance is going up, wages are going up, Sky Sports is going up. People think you're paying the same as Sky Sports at home, but Sky Sports alone can cost a publican €40,000 a year, depending on your turnover and the area of the pub. It can cost between €13,000 and €40,000 a year."

He said the low prices of alcohol in supermarkets and off-licences was contributing hugely to the downturn in the pub trade as more and more people are opting to drink at home.

"The vintners have looked for support, there is a lack of support from the Government. On the news last week we saw the loss of 75 jobs in Irish Nationwide making national news and it was the first story on all the bulletins. It's terrible that those people lost their jobs but 20,000 people nationwide have lost their jobs in our trade in the past three years and there's not a word about it.

"People are letting staff go and having to put staff on three-day weeks, at least a couple of hundred in the county have been affected. If that was a big company in an area it would be national news for a week and the TDs would be on doorsteps. I'd like to see them (the Government) coming in and discussing our problem with us," said Mr Donovan.

He added that the pub trade was being allowed to slip off the radar and said it was an important tourist industry.

"It is our biggest tourist industry. The best asset Ireland has is the Irish pub, people come to see pubs and our culture. It's being trod upon on as if it's a bad thing," said Mr Donovan.

He said when there was trouble with anti-social behaviour people were quick to blame publicans, but he pointed out that when people are drinking in pubs it's in a controlled environment, but when they were drinking outside pubs they could drink as much as they liked.