Latest news with #MichaelO'Donovan
The Irish Sun
12-05-2025
- Business
- The Irish Sun
Rural pubs are being crushed after shock closures & €1.70 from every €6 pint going to taxman – our plan could save them
IRELAND'S world famous pub industry is under threat. More than 2,000 boozers have closed in the last 20 years. Drinks Industry Group of Ireland research in 2023 warned the rate of closures is getting worse with hundreds shutting since the 3 Industry experts have blamed a range of reasons for the decline Credit: Getty 3 Pat Crotty VFI said that the rebate would help protect rural pubs Family-run pubs are particularly struggling in rural Ireland. Industry experts have blamed a range of reasons for the decline, including excise taxes, pint prices and staffing. Today, the Vintners Federation of Ireland - led by President Michael O'Donovan and backed by Eamonn O'Rahilly, from from The Spotted Dog pub, Writing in the Irish Sun, VFI CEO Pat Crotty VFI says the rebate would help protect rural pubs that play a vital social role in their local communities, while also preserving employment in a sector struggling with soaring costs. Read more in News Pubs are the beating heart of communities across Ireland. They are places where stories are shared, friendships are made and local economies are sustained. But they are also facing a crisis. Since 2005, the number of pubs outside And this isn't just about statistics, it's about the loss of social spaces and the economic lifeline they provide to small towns and villages. Most read in The Irish Sun If you're paying €6 for a pint, over €1.70 of that is going straight to the taxman. That's because Ireland has the second-highest excise rate on alcohol in Europe. And it's crushing our pubs. TAX REBATE CALL Publicans are not asking for a handout – we are asking for fairness. A 40 per cent rebate on the excise charged on draught products is a practical, targeted support that would make a real difference for small pubs across Ireland. By targeting the rebate specifically at draught products in on-licence premises, we ensure that it supports pubs, not supermarkets or off-licences. These are businesses at the heart of their communities, providing employment, social connection and play a key role in our tourism offering. The excise rebate scheme is based on a report written by Anthony Foley from DCU Business A public house provides evidence from suppliers that it purchased a certain number of tax- compliant kegs of qualifying beverage. The rebate of 40 per cent is calculated by Revenue, up to a maximum of €20k. The appropriate rebate is credited to the VAT due in each VAT period of the following year. For example, a 50-litre keg of Guinness contains 88 pints and generates €47.36 in excise per keg. A 40 per cent rebate would be €18.94 per keg. To receive the full rebate of €20k, a public house would need to sell 1,056 kegs annually or 20.3 kegs weekly. Most rural pubs would not sell this volume of kegs. The rebate applies only to draught alcohol products with a maximum ABV of 5 per cent. In effect, this means it is confined to beer/cider. The restriction of the rebate to draught products ensures the measure is focussed on public houses and other bars. EXISTENTIAL CRISIS Rural pubs are facing an existential crisis. We have seen hundreds of pubs close their doors in recent years. If this trend continues, we will lose a vital part of Irish culture and community life. A draught rebate is a simple, fair, and targeted measure that would provide immediate relief. We estimate the rebate would cost €73million annually, a small fraction of the VAT proposal. While the proposed VAT reduction for hospitality is welcome, it will only benefit pubs that serve food, leaving traditional pubs without support. The draught rebate, in contrast, would ensure that all pubs, regardless of size or location, benefit. Critics may ask why pubs deserve support? The answer is simple, pubs are more than businesses - they are community hubs. They employ local people, support suppliers and provide a place for social connection. In many rural areas, they are the last place for locals to gather. People will also throw the 'Temple Bar' accusation at us. Fair enough, but this measure is designed to assist smaller pubs who are economically a million miles from Dublin city centre. Also, we're proposing capping the rebate at €20,000, so the bigger pubs won't unduly benefit from the scheme. If we don't act now, the decline will only continue. We need the government to step up, recognise the value of our pubs and give them the support they deserve. A 40 per cent excise rebate is a practical, targeted measure that could save a vital part of Irish life. 3 VFI President Michael O'Donovan with Eamonn O'Rahilly at The Spotted Dog pub in Limerick Credit: Conor McCabe Photography.
Irish Independent
26-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Cork's ‘country bar in the middle of the city' riding a wave of Beamish as hipsters plump for stout
That's how Michael O'Donovan, proprietor of The Castle Inn on North Main Street and Chairman of the VFI, describes the building that's not only his family's business for generations, but also his home. Wood panelling on the walls, memorabilia wherever you look, even a payphone (albeit missing its handset) on the wall of the tiny snug where we sit down; while Cork's face is changing rapidly, the Castle is a cosy corner where time seemingly stands still. 'We used to keep prescriptions behind the bar,' Michael says, as he pours the latest pint for a Spanish couple sitting at the counter, too busy staring into each other's eyes to take any notice of the interview that's taking place on the other side of the bar. 'It was a community back when I was young. My mother was very good to the regulars, she'd go to the chemist, and she'd have their tablets so they wouldn't forget. 'We used to have a guy who used come in everyday. He used to live in social housing and at the time, he had to be back in his house by eight o'clock, so we had to get him out here at seven. He could be tough going at times as well! 'But at seven o'clock, you know, you'd point at your watch, and he would - if he had a full pint, half pint, or whatever, 'twould be, as he'd say, 'down the hatch' and out the door. 'When he was sick in later life, meals and wheels used to deliver here at lunchtime for him, and we'd heat the food, and we had his prescriptions here. We'd get it in Murphy's Chemists every couple of weeks.' The bar and the community around it was inseparable, which gave Michael a great introduction to the importance of keeping your customers happy, not necessarily with fancy cocktails or constant entertainment, but the knowledge that they're valued. 'I grew up in the bar. You know, some of the older customers would tell stories of me throwing my tractor down the stairs and driving around the bar floor here when it was small in the mornings and banging into their legs, a few of them blame me for having walking sticks! 'This bar here is probably part of the fabric of the community here. Lots of the buildings around here are businesses, and there's not people living in them. So it's a shame that not that more people aren't living in the city centre.' ADVERTISEMENT Learn more North Main Street is a much different place to the community in which Michael grew up in the 1970s, the scourge of dereliction has made parts of the street an eyesore, and the vacating of the Shopping Centre by Dunnes Stores a few years ago has left it cut adrift of other shopping districts like Oliver Plunkett Street. "The Castle Inn's place as a community hub comes at a time when the city's communities are being ever eroded. Less and less people now live in the vicinity of The Castle, while the dockers and brewers from Beamish and Crawford - situated just down the road - that would have frequented the pub down through the decades no longer hold a place as part of the city's industry. 'It's changed an awful lot. In the summertime, there used to be car parks up in Grant Street and we used to have soccer tournaments there during the summer, and street leagues used to take place out in the Lough for the GAA. 'It became a phenomenon in the '80s - when I was in school here up in the Mardyke, that a lot of people were moving out from the city to the suburbs, and I suppose it's been to the detriment of the city centre, really. 'We were one of the preferred bars when Scottish and Newcastle took over. A lot of the old Beamish staff used get a drink every day in the brewery, but when Health and Safety came in and you couldn't drink on site, we were one of four preferred pubs where they could get their drink. 'You can say it now because the Brewery is gone but what would happen was that they would save their pints for the big weeks of a big match or something like Cheltenham, which was synonymous here. Back then it used to be a three-day festival, and they'd all work until half 12 and then all the Beamish staff would be in here for it.' The bar, like the stout, is still enduring into the future, despite its rich historic roots, and Michael says despite the ongoing trends that come and go, Cork's own black stuff is undergoing somewhat of a hipster revolution. 'Draft products now are the 'in' thing, especially stouts. I think we would probably sell as much Beamish as Guinness, in any given year. Ever since COVID, stout has really been on a huge upward trajectory, because people could get any beers they wanted in the supermarket, but they can't replicate having a point of stout in a bar. That's what gets people out. 'They're all in their 20s and 30s. When you're talking across the counter, coffee has had such a growth in the last number of years. I think there's a bit of a connection. There's kind of a little bit of a burnt taste off the Beamish, and it's very similar to coffee. So if people like coffee, then they inevitably like Beamish as well. 'The Beamish surge at the moment is the coffee surge. 'As a bar we have to give a good offering for people to come in. You have to be relevant to your audience. And, you know, thankfully, touch wood, we've stayed relevant to people. 'In that regard, and that's what I go back to. We have to be careful of minding the heritage of the bar, because if we try and change too much, we could destroy the heritage, in which case, you'd lose what people come to see, 'A lot of country folk, no matter where they come from – Kerry, Cork, Waterford, Tipperary - they're very comfortable coming in here. Even when students, when they come to town for the first time in September, their parents would come here because they'd been here 20 or 30 years ago, and they'd bring in the son or daughter, because they know it's a safe haven and an oasis for them to go to. 'We've always been like that.'
