PAY FOR HIGH PRICES
going to force pubs to close, or reduce their winter opening times.
“Reduced footfall, coupled with an unprecedented rise in energy costs after 22 months of
Covid lockdown closures and restrictions, means we are almost certainly looking at the permanent closure of many more pubs.”
The CGA (Curren
Goodden Associates)
Cost of Living Consumer
Pulse Survey was carried out last month across Ireland 13.5 per cent under a special Covid measure to help keep the businesses afloat during the tough two years of the pandemic.
But Mr Donohoe himself said they have harmed their claim for further Budget help with “their own pricing decisions.”
and the UK and quizzed “1,000 adults who typically visit a hospitality venue every six months”.
The study comes on the back of sky-rocketing fuel bills for Ireland’s nearly 7,000 energy-reliant pubs while they remain counting the cost of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It found that 42 per cent of Irish adults plan to reduce trips to the pub and other hospitality venues between now and New Year’s Eve.
This winter’s feared energy crisis had already prompted warnings from the VFI — which represents 4,000 publicans across Ireland — about pub closures before the Consumer Pulse Survey was published.
Mr Clancy tweeted last week about energy hikes, writing: “These price increases cannot be absorbed by small hospitality businesses.
“Unless substantial supports are announced in Budget 2023, pubs will go dark this winter.”
The warnings follow last
Prices skyrocketed at times of major events with the latest examples seeing Dublin hotels charging massive prices of €500 a room and more while Garth Brooks was in town for his Croke Park concerts over the past two weekends.
Mr Donohoe told Newstalk’s Pat Kenny: “I did all I could during the time of Covid to make supports available to them, to give them every
Hikes
month’s figures from the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) that showed how Ireland has lost over 1,800 pubs since 2005, with 349 closing their doors during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thousands of jobs were sacrificed and every county in Ireland was hit hard, but Laois, Offaly and Roscommon were affected hardest, according to DIGI.
It revealed that there were 8,617 pubs in 2005, but that had plummeted to 6,788 by the end of last year — a 21 per cent decline in the number of pubs. chance to get back on their own two feet once their doors could be safely opened.
“But I do really regret, really regret what has happened over the last number of months where we have seen pricing that I believe has undone some of the good work that has happened.”