Will we see pubs open on Christmas Day?

By Tom Gillespie

IRELAND’S licensing laws have changed dramatically since the 1950s when pub opening hours were somewhat draconian, to say the least.

I am old enough to remember when pubs could not open on St. Patrick’s Day, now one of the busiest days of the year for publicans.

Likewise, I endured the era of when pubs had to close on Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. Thankfully, some obliging bar owners allowed those on the premises to remain behind closed doors until the 4 p.m. reopening hour.

Like Christmas Day, Good Friday too was a black day for drinkers, and again it was a challenge to get in for a pint. The Good Friday taboo has since been abolished and I predict we will see the day when pubs will be allowed open on December 25 for a couple of hours.

Likewise, I am old enough, just, to remember bona fide travellers who were entitled to get an alcoholic drink provided they were at least three statute miles from the place they slept the previous night.

An example of this was when in the late 1950s those seeking an alcoholic drink or two on a Sunday when the locals were closed would walk or cycle from Castlebar to Turlough while the Turlough natives headed for Castlebar.

However, if you mounted your bicycle on a Sunday afternoon and cycled the statutory distance with the set purpose of obtaining intoxicating drink you were not a genuine bona fide within the meaning of the Act.

You were, in fact, acting mala fide - in bad faith - and were consequently a mala fide traveller. In other words, you were a fraud, a cheat, a masquerader.

But if you happened to be the statutory distance or more from your abode and you suddenly felt thirsty and you repaired to the nearest pub to slake it, you were a genuine authentic bona fide in the eyes of Church and State.

The official time for closing then was 10.30 p.m. But the publican was permitted to remain open until midnight to attend to the wants of bona fide travellers.