Publican rings changes over mobile use
IRISH pubs are still full of the chat... it’s just that we’re all doing it on phones, while civilised folk sit nursing pints waiting for proper conversation. Well not any more. Another popular pub in Cork is following the trend set by the bohemian Hi-B upstairs bar in the city. The Anchor, in the tourist haven of Courtmacsherry, has restricted the use of mobile phones. The favoured watering hole of Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has not yet adopted the zerotolerance of the Hi-B, instead, proprietor Pádraig Fleming told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘We are not engaged in a fatwa on mobile phones, but we encourage people to talk when they come in. ‘Anyone who starts staring at the phone is asked: “Are you all right? Is there a twitch in your hand?”’
Mr Fleming, who runs the pub with his siblings, said: ‘The pub is for craic and a bit of banter about the state of the world. We are not trying to start a national movement but, particularly for tourists, the pub is a place for music and finding out about the locality, its stories and tales. ‘And if you are stuck after a few pints, we’ll even drive you home,’ he said. The problem is, he said: ‘The younger people don’t know how to converse, they have all the knowledge but it’s hard to get it out of them.’ Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard, another regular, told the MoS: ‘Patrons are actively encouraged not to use mobile devices. There is no actual ban, but their use inside is frowned upon. It is a bit like Gandhi and passive resistance. They are seen almost as being the new cigarettes, you are expected to go outside to use them.’
Senator Lombard – who is a senior figure on the Dáil Communications Committee which regularly discusses mobile phone issues – predicted that The Hi-B and The Anchor are ahead of the curve and more pubs will follow.
He said they harm Ireland’s reputation for hospitality because ‘tourists come in expecting fiddle playing and literary disputations and find themselves in silent mausoleums with everyone looking at smartphones’.