'Boozer Bus' to Save Irish Pubs

A minister has proposed late night public transport for patrons of Ireland's declining rural pubs to save the drinking houses from ruin. The idea, dubbed "buses for boozers", is awaiting ministerial approval.

More than 800 pubs in small towns and the countryside have closed in the past three years due to falling profits, raising concerns about the collapse of traditional social networks. Random breath tests, campaigns against drink-driving as well as the growth in off-licences and home entertainment have all been blamed.

Éamon Ó'Cuív, the minister for community, rural and Gaeltacht affairs, floated the bus proposal after Christmas. He is expected to endorse the scheme in the coming days. Support has come from road safety officials and urban drinkers who point out that late night city buses already provide a similar service. Opponents have derided it as unworkable and a pre-election gimmick designed to appeal to the Fianna Fáil party's rural constituency. The transport minister, Martin Cullen, has so far declined to finance it from his budget.

The novelty of the debate encouraged another Fianna Fáil representative, Ned O'Keefe, to suggest a two-tier alcohol limit, with different rates for rural and city drivers. "I could have 80mg in an urban area and 100mg, which would be fairly normal in rural Ireland," he said. "That would give people a chance at having two pints."

Others have been less sympathetic. "Rural pubs might be closing at a furious rate because there were too many of them to be economically viable in the first place," said the columnist Eilis O'Hanlon. "It's the sacred place of the pint in Irish culture again."