Rural Pubs Closing in Ireland

Very sad to hear this news. It has been a dream of mine to someday go to Ireland and visit some of the small villages in the country side. A big part of that was to belly up to a quaint pub and have a Guiness with the locals and listen to that great brogue.

After reading this article in the April 27th Chicago Tribune, I'm afraid I might be a day late and Euro short.

HERE'S THE THING

The count by the Vintner's Federation of Ireland shows that the number of pubs outside Dublin have dropped from 6,000 to 5,000 in the last three years. A lot of this has been caused by Ireland's increasing affluence. As recently as the 1980s, young Irish had to leave the country to find work and millionaires were rare. But by 2005, the number of millionaires stood at 30,000 (out of 4 million people). That number increases by 300 in 2006. Ireland's per capita income is among the highest in the world and is even higher than that of the US, Sweden and Japan.

Irish people are finding other things to do instead of a night of "craic", as good times are called, at the local pub. Smoking bans and tougher DUI laws are also a problem. Some Irish even said there were too many pubs anyway.


CONNOLLY, COUNTY CLARE

The village is a small group of buildings around a Catholic church. "For generations, village life revolved around the church, the pub and a small post office that collected mail, cashed checks and dished out news."

All three of these Irish institutions are under pressure. Regular church attendance is down from 90% in the 1970s to 45% today. Ten years ago, there were nearly 1,900 post offices and 1,255 now.

MY PROBLEM

Obviously, I should get myself over to Ireland as soon as possible. The big problem with that is that our money is so worthless these days. For me to get $100 Euros would cost $150 and then the service charges.

My mom took the family for a cruise around the British Isles two years ago, but the only Ireland stop was Dublin and that place has gotten so urbanized, I don't think it really represents that part of Ireland I'd like to get to know.

Well, Here's Hoping a Get to Quaff that Guiness Some Day. --The Old Coot