It seems the country (well Limerick anyway ) can’t go a day without booze.
This week saw a District Court judgement allowing some pubs in the Limerick area to open on Good Friday. Why? Well there’s a match on don’t you know! Of course a Munster rugby match is a big deal in Limerick. Espicially when it’s a Magners League game against Leinster (trust me it’s a big deal ).
But that’s not the point, nothing should be seen as such a big deal that pubs can open on one of only two days out of 365 that pubs are legally obliged to close.
Not any more it seems. As from 6pm to 11.30pm on Good Friday, Limerick city pubs will be allowed open their doors to punters and let them drink their fill! To be fair there were decent arguments for and against the pubs opening. Church and State are no longer as intertwined as they used to be, so should the pubs close on religious grounds? Matchgoers can drink in Thomond Park on the day, so why not in the surrounding pubs? And of course it’s good for the economy to have people spending all their money on drink!
But then again, it’s a tradition, and it’s nice to give hard working bar staff a night of. And it does look bad on us, well Limerick anyway, that we can’t go a day without drinking in a pub! Also I find the publicans’ argument that the match is a special event a bit feeble. It’s only a special event for the professional players on the pitch. I don’t care how passionate you are about sport, it’s not a special event. And it certainly shouldn’t come across that we need to guzzle down a couple of pints for the match to be watchable!
According to Mark O’Connell of accounting firm BDO Simpson Xavier the game is estimated to be worth €7.3 million to the city if the pubs are allowed to open. That’s a lot of pints! And a bit far-fetched if you ask me. Can people really drink €7.3 million worth of alcohol in the space of four and a half hours?
In the end an application was made by Limerick Vintners Feneration for all bars in Limerick county to be permited to stay open until midnight. However the ruling only covers approximately 110 pubs in the city.
So now the big question remains, are we going to see all pubs open on Good Friday from next year? Is it not a bad reflection on us all that we can’t go a day without heading to the pub? And surely it’s a bit ironic to be filling ourselves with drink at a sporting event?
