How this Louth family farm boosted income with seasonal events and charity walks
When the Redmond family opened their orchard at Corderry Fruit Farm in Co Louth for a blossom walk in of the Irish Red Cross Ukraine Fund back in 2022 they little imagined that it would be the start of a successful enterprise on the family farm.
Since then they have opened the farm for a series of family friendly seasonal events including around picking your own fruit, pumpkin picking, and for the first time this year, an Easter Trail, with something special already in the pipeline for Christmas.
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RTÉ News
10-07-2025
- RTÉ News
GAA Palestine calls on Taoiseach to help with denial of visas
GAA Palestine's founder has called on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to step in to prevent Palestinian children "being devastated" after a group of its players had their visas to Ireland denied. GAA Palestine has said it will "not give up hope" and is working to appeal the decision by the Irish Immigration Service to deny visa applications for a group of its players and mentors ahead of a summer tour. Its founder, Stephen Redmond said: "They are going to be devastated." A team of 33 children and 14 mentors were due to travel to Ireland for a summer tour, but have been denied entry. GAA Palestine had sought clarity on the status of their visa applications, and were due to arrive in Ireland on 18 July. The Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration cited a lack of compliance to visa application criteria as reasons for denying the visas. Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said that "something is stopping" the Palestinian children from coming to Ireland and that Palestinians are not being treated on a part with other nationalities and ethnic groups. "This is pioneering and historical event of support for the Palestinians," said Mr Redmond. "If they don't have us, who else do they really have?" 'They are depending on us' "They are depending on us," he said. "All they need is hope, and we have given them that hope". The club's founder said that they will battle until the very end and that this needs to be sorted by Monday in order for the children and volunteers to travel. Mr Redmond said that the club has given the children hope when others have failed, as they feel let down by the UN, human rights bodies and western institutions. He said that there is an alternative plan of setting up a GAA summer camp in Jordan if this plan falls through, but that it will not be the same. "It's a setback, but we will keep going and not give up hope." "They know Ireland is with them, and if Ireland lets them down at this stage, we become part of that shameful list of the last 77 years of failure entities," he said, adding that there is a sense that this can still be done. He said that children have been training for a year and there is "so much at stake". Mr Redmond said the organisation wants to start sending documents immediately to remedy the issue and have consent from the parents of the Palestinian children. He said they went as far as "sending a volunteer to the West Bank to assist with additional documentation". 'Phenomenal' support from across country Meanwhile, GAA Palestine international spokesperson Claire Liddy said the organisation were working on an appeal, after "phenomenal" support and offers of support and assistance from every corner of the island. Ms Liddy said they had no idea why they were denied, adding that they had been contacting the Irish embassy in Tel Aviv daily over the status of the visas, and that multiple documents had been received multiple times. She said that the embassy requested additional documentation, and they have received the documents multiple times and have had the documentation for weeks. However, she said the embassy is now saying the documents need to be issued from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which was never communicated to GAA Palestine. 'People are devastated' "People are devastated. It's not looking good but we are fighting this," she said. "If the Palestinians have taught us anything, this was the beginning of a dream and we'll not let it stop us. "It's a setback, but we will keep going and not give up hope," she said, adding that people are heartbroken after the scale of work and effort that has gone in to the trip. The embassy never requested the vetting of the host families, she said, adding that this was done through the GAA and clubs. She said that most of the details mentioned in the refusal were to do with things they have either received already, were never asked for, or was never communicated. "We felt that we were being stonewalled, it was being delayed. We had the phones hung up on us several times by the office in Tel Aviv and we felt that there was something going on," she said. This was not an "isolated incident", she said, as GAA Palestine is in contact with other groups with proven track records of bringing Palestinian children to Ireland for years who have experienced the same issues. "We complied with everything they asked us for in the first stage, and then they came back and asked for additional documents, and then we had radio silence again and we asked them repeatedly if they had everything they need and they said they did." GAA Palestine 'deeply disappointed and shocked' GAA Palestine said in statement that it is "deeply disappointed and shocked" by the refusal of the visas. It said the visa applications, submitted in mid-May with "comprehensive documentation" included plans to visit GAA clubs across Ireland, educational exchanges and cultural activities. It said all applicants, 33 children aged between nine and 16 years had "fulfilled all requested documentation". "We understand from letters sent by the Irish Embassy in Israel that the reason cited [for refusing the visas] was a lack of detailed itineraries and financial arrangements - information that had been provided with the application," it added. In its statement last night, the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration said that each application is decided on its own merits. Confirming that appropriate child protection requirements are in place is essential when considering visa applications for minors, the statement said. "This includes a requirement that a child is travelling with their parents or an appropriate guardian, which requires additional documents to be verified such as birth certificates and consent letters. "In adult cases, evidence of financial means, employment or other ties that indicate a person intends to return home are important criteria. "These help to establish that a person has a legitimate reason to come to Ireland, and that they will comply with the conditions of a short-term visa. "An application will be refused if it cannot demonstrate compliance with such conditions.
Irish Examiner
09-07-2025
- Irish Examiner
Palestine GAA club 'doing all they can' to make Irish tour happen after visa rejections
Leaders of a GAA club in Palestine have said they will do "all they can" to ensure that a tour of Ireland, scheduled for this month, will take place after 47 visas were rejected by Irish officials. GAA Palestine had hoped to bring the 47 Palestinians to Ireland on July 18 for a tour that included stops in Dublin, Cork and Galway. These included 33 children, aged between 9 and 16 years of age, who have been learning hurling since January of last year. However, in a statement on Wednesday evening, the group confirmed the news of the visa rejection. The group wrote: "Our Irish visa applications for the GAA Palestine summer tour have been refused by the Irish Immigration Service. To say we are deeply disappointed is an understatement. We will be appealing this decision immediately. The statement added: "Our hearts right now are with the 33 children and 14 mentors who are so looking forward to being welcomed to Ireland next week. "Against all odds, we're doing all we can to make this tour happen. We're not giving up hope." Speaking to the Irish Examiner last year, GAA Palestine founder Stephen Redmond explained how the club was providing hope to the children in the West Bank. He said; 'This is a major thing — they feel recognised within the GAA as special." 'They're young heroes, they've been through more than any of us, I can't express how big it is — wait to see what happens when they go to Ireland! 'For us, it's very humbling to see the excitement from them,' Mr Redmond added. Young boys living in Ramallah, the West Bank started training in hurling with the hopes of one day playing the GAA sport here in Ireland this summer. A letter of support sent by a school principal in Ireland was extremely touching for the children — 'it showed she actually cared – it's so big to them,' Mr Redmond said. At that time, the Ramallah Hurling Club had 24 members — 20 kids, a bainisteoir, a coach, and a projects manager. Read More Hurling in Ramallah: How Palestinian children are getting to grips with GAA
RTÉ News
01-06-2025
- RTÉ News
Irish publicans on the bar trade: "The show is basically over"
As nightclub numbers are dwindling, and Gen Z pivots away from booze, we ask publications how the Irish pub is doing in 2025. Kate Demolder writes. Ireland's pubs are closing, so say publicans and industry experts who have watched the decline in recent years. Once a bona fide third space, the Irish pub – a venue for celebration, commiseration and kinship [whether you're drinking or not] – is hitting breaking point, according to publicans. And the reasons for this are plenty. First up is price; in a time when drinks can leave you without change from a €10 note, the desire to have a tipple can wane. Second, they say, is education; a country known for its affiliation with alcohol, the average Irish person has seen the ravages of addiction first-hand, meaning the process of indulging in a night of drinking may have lost its initial appeal. Third is a change in consumer behaviour; one can't browse the internet these days without seeing another article about how Gen Z don't drink, instead choosing to spend time at gym classes and running clubs. "I have four kids aged between 22 and 30 and they're all gym bunnies," John Byrne, owner of The Lark Inn on Meath Street, says. "You see the younger generation in the pub maybe once a week for a match or a party, but you also might go a couple of months without seeing them. They don't see the pub as a way of socialising. And for those trying to save for a mortgage, forget about it." Byrne has worked on Meath Street for 35 years, often serving generations of the same family. Though tourists coming from the Guinness Storehouse bolster sales, he remains loyal to his locals. That said, he's had to pivot to innovative tactics to tempt young people in. "Quiz nights, bingo nights… different things to try give them a reason." He also refuses to raise his prices in an attempt to stand by his clientele. "Price is a massive thing," he says. "We charge €5 for a pint of Guinness and €5.50 for lager. Just last week, I was in town with my wife, and we paid double that. "People have a pop at me, saying you won't be making money charging those prices, but we're just trying to give people a reason to come out. It's a struggle, but once we're able to pay our bills and wages and have a little bit leftover, then we'll keep doing what we're doing." For Colm Redmond, of Johnny O'Loughlin's pub at The Zetland Country House Hotel in Connemara, the case is much the same. Redmond regularly makes headlines for his €4.50 pint of Guinness. "We're not trying to make money, we're just trying to keep customers," he says. Redmond is positive that business never picked up post-COVID. "A huge amount of people drink at home, which I genuinely believe is terrible for their mental health. The pub was never just about the booze, it was about teas and coffees and chats – and an awful lot of people are missing that." Back in March, French lawmakers overwhelmingly backed a bill making it easier to open bars in villages, a move aimed at reviving social lives in rural communities. France had just seen a sharp fall from about 200,000 bars and cafés serving alcohol in the 1960s to some 36,000 by 2015. Most of the closures were in rural areas, and echo the current situation in Ireland. According to a Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) study, some 114 pubs on average have closed across the country every year of the last 18. The study, conducted in August 2024, claims that 2,054 pubs have ceased trading in Ireland since 2005, a reduction of 24%. Every one of the 26 counties in the Republic has seen the number of pubs in it decrease over the last two years, with closure rates highest in more rural counties. CEO of the Vintner's Federation of Ireland, Pat Crotty, who himself is a former publican, needs just a few words to convey why publicans are shutting their doors. "It's very difficult," he says of running an Irish pub today. "The net position for the publican outside of an urban area is that he's dying slowly." Even for pubs relying on tourists, the CSO has shown that tourist numbers are down at a time when they should be up." Crotty insists that publicans' hands are tied by way of legal and financial obligations, and that very few can go on at the rate they're currently going. "Inflation, the Living Wage, VAT, excise tax, water costs… It's tax on tax on tax. The thing is that the government continues to make these decisions that affect publicans around the country, without consulting publicans. "And to make matters worse, publicans submit their forms with all the details of their financials, so the guys making the decisions know whether or not they can afford it. And in a lot of cases, they can't. Which is why pubs are opening on fewer days, the service is getting worse, and so many are closing." Echoing this is Redmond: "Tapas bars are Spain at its best, and that's because anyone can go there and not have to spend too much to have a great meal and a glass of wine or whatever. Irish hospitality spots have to spend €30,000-€40,000 [on a kitchen] to sell a rasher. Those kinds of prices force restaurants to charge high prices, which means people can't go." The story of the Irish pub is one that is riddled with archaic and uncomfortable regulations. A prior example was the "Holy Hour," a practice introduced in the 1920s which dictated that all pubs be closed for an hour on Sundays, usually between 2pm and 4pm, in an attempt to curtail afternoon drinking by the workforce. Most pubs at the time simply shuttered their doors and continued to serve patrons inside. Realising this, the stipulation was dropped in 1999. The following year, a new requirement was listed. One that insisted meals be served to patrons of any establishment where alcohol was sold. The rule was dubbed the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2000, and regularly saw vats of chicken curry or chicken and chips carted around nightclubs and late licensed pubs as the music was stopped in an attempt to get people to eat. Most didn't, but it didn't matter. Some pubs simply placed a meal beside the pub's hatch to ward off Gardaí in case they came knocking. "Back then, gardaí would have looked in the door to see everyone was either being compliant or gone home," Crotty says. "Today, if they even looked, there would be nobody there." A 2024 benchmarking survey by the VFI found that 36% of pub turnover is currently consumed by labour costs alone, and that figure will increase to over 40% with the introduction of the Living Wage. The same survey found that 37% of publicans are considering retirement within the next two years, and 84% report that no family member wishes to inherit the pub. The pub's pivot in society from the main social setting to one of several might be responsible for this, so says Dr Perry Share, head of student success at Atlantic Technological University in Sligo and co-editor of the upcoming book The Irish Pub: Invention and Reinvention. There was no particular point when this shift happened, he says, but a number of different contemporary factors have resulted in a gradual pivot on a rolling basis from pub culture. "Drink driving legislation, the smoking ban, the rise in cafés, how people's houses are now invested in meaning that pubs no longer feel as necessary, bypasses, motorways, people buying better cars so they don't need to stop on long trips… they're all responsible," he says. "And that's the same across Europe. It's also not pub-specific. Places like hardware shops, banks, newsagents, post offices and a whole range of other businesses have been reduced in recent years to make way for consolidation. "Since the start of this century, I've noticed a drop from 13 pubs in my local town to four. And for the ones that remain, the owners are retiring and they're either going to be left empty or turned into residential spaces." Dr Share says that the difficulty in running a pub is also exacerbated by capital-rich groups which run multiple chains and locations at once. "It's hard to compete without being a niche development like, say, Fidelity in Smithfield, or having the backing of international capital. That said, while I don't think the Irish pub is going to disappear, I do know that certain types are disappearing all the time. The roadside pub being a perfect example." Despite this, Ireland still ranks third in the world for the number of pubs per capita, as per a survey by the Health Research Board. (The country listed with the highest number of pubs per capita is Slovakia - officially the Slovak Republic - while the second is Hungary.) However, figures collated by the blog Every Pub In Dublin show a stark reality. Just 30 new drinking holes – including replacement openings, rebrands and franchised developments like Pitch on Nassau Street – opened in 2024. Only two, however, are listed as "normal" pub openings: Old Fashioned Sams on Montague Street and Porter's on Camden Street. What does this mean? "An overreliance on tourism and international capital," Dr Share is certain. Could this be the decline of pub culture as we know it? "It's possible," Crotty says. "I hope not, but it is." And finally, when asked what he might say to someone who was enthusiastic to start up a pub, Redmond sighed before replying: "You're crazy. There's no future in the bar trade in rural Ireland unless things change dramatically. The show is basically over." Nobody's under any illusions about the future. In Dublin, Connemara or a roadside in Clare, the Irish pub is being put on the back burner. The question remains, however, where do we go now for our third space? With nightclubs and pubs closing, and late-night cafés practically non-existent, the only hope for the future of nightlife in Ireland is one that centres on systemic and legislative change. The ideas are there, and the will is too. The only thing that won't be? According to Crotty: "Pubs, if nothing changes from here on out."
