It's hard to believe but the pub is another Irish institution under threat.
For years the pub was at the heart of the community, a place where people gathered to meet their friends, drink, enjoy 'the craic', listen to live music, play pool or darts, or, more recently, watch football on tv. Irish bars are famous worldwide and are a major attraction for tourists. But like every other sector of the economy, times are hard for pubs, especially those outside towns and tourist areas. New laws banning smoking in public buildings and cracking down on drink driving have had a knock-on effect on drinking habits. More people are drinking at home, a trend fuelled by supermarkets selling alcohol at discount prices. And all this is coming at a time when Irish people are drinking twice as much as they did 50 years ago.