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Tax Breaks For Publicans Not The Solution In Drink Driving Law Debate

 Offering tax breaks to publicans to leave their customers home late at night is an attempt by the Government to take the heat off back bench TD’s in the current debate about the drink driving legislation and it is not workable in many cases especially in rural Ireland.
 If you look at returns from many small rural pubs they do not need any tax breaks because the reality is that many of them are struggling to keep the door open in the first place. In fact some of these pubs are struggling to pay rates as it is never mind anything else.The amount of customers are dwindling all the time but they are providing a service in rural areas like the local post office and the local shop and they are helping to keep small communities going.
 Tax breaks might be appropriate in larger towns and cities but anyone that understands what’s going on in rural Ireland will know that many small publicans are struggling to stay afloat and many are trying to raise families and stay off the unemployment register. If these people continue to get hammered a lot of small rural pubs will have to shut their doors for good and that’s the reality.