Pubs to open on Good Friday... probably

MOST – and maybe all – of Dingle’s pubs are taking like ducks to water to the ending of the ban on Good Friday drinking and they’ll be open for business on what has been a ‘black day’ since 1927.

The Government decided in January to end the Good Friday drink ban in the interest of benefiting the tourism industry. The move has met with a negative reaction from some publicans around the country but in Dingle the decision appears to have gone down as well as an after-hours pint.

Chairman of the Dingle Branch of the Vintners Federation of Ireland, John Benny Moriarty, said “the general consensus is that pubs will be open, in accordance with the law… It’s up to everybody to decide for themselves but it looks like most of the pubs will be open.”

To clarify the matter we asked some of Dingle’s most esteemed drinking establishments what their plans were for Good Friday. Their responses were clear-ish.

One publican, on the sea side of town, said that, as it was now only Monday it’d be impossible to say if he would be open on Friday because there was no way of telling if he – or any of us - would live that long.

Further uphill, a barman wasn’t quite sure how things stood: “I don’t know yet. We might be open, but it’s hard to say, we might not. But, yerra, I suppose we will... probably”.

In Foxy John’s, Donal Neylon was quite clear that he’d be opening and added that he wouldn’t miss having a day off because he has always worked in the bar on Good Friday. Not selling alcohol, mind – just taking the opportunity to clean and tidy the bar. Foxy put him at the job as a youngster and he never got out of the habit.

In another pub, where seed potatoes and pints sit side-by-side, there will be a gentle transition for those who find it hard to get their heads around the idea of legal drinking on Good Friday: the front door will be closed to the public but the back door will be open to regulars.