Conor D McGuinness raises alarm over rural pub closures

Minister, more than 2,200 pubs have closed across the state since 2005, with closures now accelerating to around 128 per year. In rural Ireland, the pub is often far more than a business. It's a meeting place, social hub, venue for music, sports and local culture, sometimes the last remaining indoor public gathering space in a village or in a rural community. Does the Minister share my concern at the scale of rural pub closures and what engagement has he had with the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment on protecting their long-term viability? Thank you Chair, thank you Deputy McGuinness for raising this issue. I'm very much aware of the recent survey from VFI which highlights the challenges being faced by rural pubs and their importance, and I agree with the Deputy's analysis even, their importance as hubs for social connection and cultural life. I want to acknowledge that VFI made a submission to the written consultation process which Minister Bonner and I opened last year to inform the development of the next iteration of our rural future. While specific supports for the sector fall under the remit of my colleague the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, our rural future policy will take a whole-of-government approach to rural development with actions to support the rural economy, rural communities including addressing rural isolation. The policy is underpinned by funding through our Rural Investment Programme and Community Development Programme, as well as an array of funding streams across government. As Deputy McGuinness has set out, rural pubs do play an important social role in rural communities in particular. I'm conscious of the challenge of rural isolation. With this in mind, the Department has a range of funding streams to help address the issue. These supports include the Local Enhancement Programme, Community Services Programme, SCICAP and the Seniors in Art Programme. Also, there is no doubt that the very significant investment we have made in Community Centre Investment Fund in recent years has helped to ensure that our rural areas have high-quality facilities that serve as focal points for communities. The development of our new Rural Future Policy will continue to provide a framework for continued investment in our rural communities in the coming years. The policy and its associated action plan are nearing completion. I'm continuing to engage with all of my ministerial colleagues to ensure that our ambition for rural Ireland is underpinned by a series of ambitious and practical actions. That ambition includes addressing the challenges faced by rural communities in particular that are rural isolation. Deputy McGuinness. Minister, you are correct when you say that the supports are matters primarily for the ministers with responsibility for enterprise and for finance and taxation, and they fall under enterprise, taxation, tourism and hospitality policy. But rural pubs, as I think you acknowledged there, also sit squarely under rural development. When a rural pub closes, the impact is not just limited to the licence holder or the business. It's not just the loss of an enterprise, the loss of economic activity and the loss of employment, but the community loses a social anchor in many respects. Older people, single men, in rural areas, isolated farmers in many cases, musicians, local sports clubs, tourists, community groups all lose a space. This is particularly serious given that Ireland has been identified as having the highest prevalence of loneliness in a recent European survey. Rural isolation is already one of the great hidden social crises in this state. We cannot say that we're serious about tackling loneliness while allowing rural social infrastructure to disappear. So I'm not asking the minister or this government to take responsibility for every tax or cost-cutting measure affecting pubs for everything happening. But this government and your department, Minister, must recognise the rural pubs as part of the social and community fabric of rural Ireland. I can assure you, Deputy, we're very committed to investing in rural social infrastructure. That's why we will be opening the Community Centre Investment Fund for investment of €25 million in the coming week. That will assist community centres right across the country. In terms of rural isolation, you are correct to identify rural men in particular. We've just invested up to €3,000 per shed into 369 men's sheds across the country. Absolutely, the rural pub is very important. I want to welcome and thank VFI for their submission. It did highlight exercise, it did highlight costs, but it also highlights the need for a rural transport plan for capital supports for rural pubs and support for pubs as community venues. Certainly, in the context of the transport plan, we are having engagement with Minister Dara O'Brien around that. We have pilots running at the moment, Minister O'Brien in Killarney and in Achill, TFI and Shaw, which is effectively a bus on demand to a certain extent. We'll be looking at that pilot as to how we can ideally expand it around the country, specifically into rural areas. That will assist the viability of rural hospitality venues. Thanks, Minister. I'm glad to hear you mention rural transport, because that is often a key factor in accessing pubs in rural Ireland. It speaks to the need to see this not as just a matter of taxation or licensing or enterprise support, but about safeguarding and maintaining rural community infrastructure. Minister, have you raised this directly with the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment? Have you had a specific conversation about this issue? Have you sought or will you seek a targeted rural pub viability package or measures in next year's budget? Has any consideration been given by you or your department or a Cabinet level for rural development schemes that could be tailored or used to support local pubs, be they under current ownership and management, or indeed under the management or control of a social enterprise or community organisation? Minister, we're very focused on rural transport. Minister Bodomer, as well as being Minister in this department, is Minister in the Department of Transport as well. The work that's being done by LocalLink to expand their services and, more importantly, to expand the flexibility of their services in recent years, that will continue. We will be engaging Minister Peter Burke in the Department of Enterprise and Tourism in relation to our rural future, what can be done to sustain rural enterprises, rural economies. Obviously, as you know, we have to be very careful in terms of state aid rules in how we intervene in private businesses. That's why we are investing in the social hub of communities, community centres, sports clubs, men's sheds, as I said already, through the local enhancement programme, supporting local community groups. But I'm certainly open to ideas and open to proposals. As I said, the Ventures Federation of Ireland have made a very good and a very round submission to the process in relation to our rural future. I'll be taking some of their proposals. We'll be engaging Minister Burke around those proposals in the context of our rural future.