2026-05-21

89. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht if he shares concerns regarding the unprecedented rate of rural pub closures across Ireland; if he accepts the role rural pubs play as important community hubs in combating isolation and sustaining rural economies; and the engagement he has had with the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment on measures to support the long-term viability of rural pubs. [38291/26]

More than 2,200 pubs have closed across the State since 2005, with closures now accelerating to around 128 per year. In rural areas, the pub is often far more than a business. It is a meeting place, a social hub and a venue for music, sport and local culture. It is sometimes the last remaining indoor public gathering space in a village or rural community. Does the Minister share my concern at the scale of rural pub closures? What engagement has he had with the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment on protecting their long-term viability?

I am aware of the recent figures from the Vintners Federation of Ireland, which highlight the challenges faced by rural pubs and their importance as hubs for social connection and cultural life. I agree with the Deputy's analysis in that regard. I also acknowledge that the VFI made a written submission to the consultation process which the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and I opened last year to inform the development of the next iteration of Our Rural Future. While specific supports for the sector would fall under the remit of my colleagues, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, the new Our Rural Future policy will take a whole-of-government approach to rural development, with actions to support the rural economy and rural communities, including addressing rural isolation. The policy is underpinned by funding through my Department's rural investment and community development programmes, as well as an array of funding streams across government. As Deputy McGuinness set out, rural pubs play an important social role in rural communities in particular. I am 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, the community services programme, the social inclusion community activation programme and the seniors alert programme. There is no doubt that our significant investment in the community centre investment fund in recent years has helped to ensure our rural areas have high-quality facilities that serve as focal points for communities. The development of the new Our 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 am 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, rural isolation in particular.

The Minister is correct that the supports are matters primarily for the Ministers with responsibility for enterprise, finance and taxation and that they fall under enterprise, taxation, tourism and hospitality policy. However, as he acknowledged, rural pubs also sit squarely under rural development. When a rural pub closes, the impact is not just limited to the licence holder or business. It is not just the loss of enterprise, economic activity and employment. The community loses its social anchor in many respects. In rural areas, older people, single men, farmers, musicians, local sports clubs, tourists and 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 are serious about tackling loneliness while allowing rural social infrastructure to disappear. I am not asking the Minister or the Government to take responsibility for every tax or cost-cutting measure affecting pubs or for everything that is happening, but the Minister's Department and the Government must recognise rural pubs as part of the social and community fabric of rural Ireland.

I assure the Deputy that we are very committed to investing in rural social infrastructure. That is 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. When it comes to rural isolation, the Deputy is correct to identify rural men in particular. We have just invested up to €3,000 per shed for 369 men's sheds across the country. The rural pub is important. I welcome and thank VFI for its submission. While it highlighted excise duty and cost, it also highlighted the need for a rural transport plan, capital supports for rural pubs and support for pubs as community venues. In the context of the transport plan, we are having engagement with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. Pilot schemes are running in both Killarney and Achill with the TFI Anseo app, which is effectively providing a bus-on-demand service to a certain extent. We will look at that pilot and, ideally, we will expand it around the country, specifically to rural areas. That will assist the viability of rural hospitality venues.

I am glad to hear the Minister 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 just as a matter of taxation, licensing or enterprise support but, rather, as a matter of safeguarding and maintaining rural community infrastructure. Has the Minister raised this directly with the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Deputy Burke? Has he had a specific conversation about this issue? Will he seek targeted measures or a package for rural pub viability in next year's budget? Has the Minister and his Department, or the Cabinet, given any consideration to rural development schemes that could be tailored or used to support local pubs, be they under current ownership and management or under the management or control of a social enterprise or community organisation?

We are very focused on rural transport. Deputy Buttimer is a Minister of State in the Department of Transport as well as being a Minister of State in my Department. The work being done by Local Link to expand its services and, more importantly, expand the flexibility of its services in recent years will continue. We will engage with the Minister, Deputy Burke, and the Department of enterprise and tourism in the context of Our Rural Future policy to determine what can be done to sustain rural enterprises and economies. Obviously, as the Deputy knows, due to state aid rules, we have to be careful in how we intervene in private business. That is why we are investing in the social hub of communities, such as community centres, sports clubs and men's sheds. Through the local enhancement programme, we are supporting local community groups. I am certainly open to ideas and proposals, however. As I said, the Vintners Federation of Ireland has made a good and round submission to the consultation on Our Rural Future. I will engage with the Minister, Deputy Burke, on some of its proposals in the context of Our Rural Future.