Wrong approach to find sympathy for Publicans?

Is it just me or is all the furore over providing a rural transport scheme being apporached from the wrong angle? The following comments have appeared in the press lately:“The VFI argued that people in small communities are unwilling to use their cars to travel to their local pubs because of Garda checkpoints and it is cutting them off from a vital social link.”

I am the first to agree that rural communities and businesses struggle to make a living when relying on such a heavily regulated and now heavily policed industry, however it seems to be forgotten that it is not random breathtesting on it’s own that is stopping people leaving their houses, it is the combination of drink driving and random breathtesting that is the problem.

I think Roisin Shortall TD summed up the impression that many now have of th erural pub industry when she asked during the Oireachtas Committee meeting on the subject:

“As a people, why are we so dependent on alcohol for our sanity? People in other European countries manage to get by without going to the pub every night”

While we can’t expect to be able to change rural drinkers into tea-totallers or change a national culture of pub going, can we not improve the image of the industry by stressing the importance of social interaction, community spirit rather than the daily requirement of rural dwellers to drink more than the legal drink-driving limit in order to make it worthwhile leaving their houses? There should be more to a Pub than a Guinness tap, and I am a firm believer that the more a Pub can offer in addition to alcohol, than the more sympathy and support rural publicans will receive.

Rome wasn’t built in a day admittedly….

 

Solving the Drink Driving Problem for Publicans

The recent media swarm and consumer backlash around the publican/drink driving issue has created a situation where public opinion strongly opposes any comment made by rural publicans in respect of assistance for their business. Indeed, we are becoming almost immune to sound bytes from the Vintners Federation et al.

In our haste to pronounce that “The Publican has had it good for long enough…..” and such similar comments, we are failing to recognise the two real issues:

1. No Publican wants to be responsible for, associated with, known for causing or accomplice to death on the roads. On a purely economic level, the publican does not need to lose an already dwindling rural customer base but in such a community where everyone knows everyone, such a death would affect the entire community.

2. Random Breath testing and Drink Driving Laws are a hurdle, not a brick wall. Everyone in society, whether willing to admit it publicly or otherwise, agrees that a family with all siblings around the table for dinner instead of in a mortuary is favourable and that random breath testing and drink driving laws are actually contributing to maintaining the status quo of many families.

Yes, laws have changed, enforcement has increased and mindsets are shifting, however, economic factors and legislative changes have impacted business since time immemorial. Publicans themselves have contended with and adapted to business changes such as the smoking ban and every business sector has had it’s own cross to bear at some point in it’s history. Cigarette Manufacturers have lost (rightly so, many will agree) the right to advertise or be associated with certain sporting events. The smoking ban also had a large impact on cigarette machine suppliers in Ireland.