Image: RollingNews.ie Image: RollingNews.ie THE DRINKS INDUSTRY Group of Ireland has criticised the Government’s stimulus package for the hospitality sector claiming it “fails to grasp the magnitude of the situation that publicans are facing”.
Exact details of the package are yet to be revealed but the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said they would top-up the restart grant for affected pubs by 40%, waive licence fees and court fees for pubs that remain closed as part of the package. “€16 million divided between the country’s 3,500 pubs that remain closed is equal to €4,571 per business, or €762 for every month closed. Since the lockdown, almost half of publicans have taken on debt of €16,000, one in five as much as €30,000, much of it to invest in protective equipment and refurbishments in preparation for reopening. The package therefore barely scratches the surface of what is required.
“There has still been no explanation from the Government as to why Ireland is a special case,” the group added. The group said that if the Government wants to make “impactful decisions that will enable the industry to not only reopen but to recover, then longer-term strategies need to be put in place that reassess some of the wider constraints that exist across the sector, such as excise tax”.