Small local pubs remain at the heart of the licenses trade in Ireland, according to a new report by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI).
There is a license for every 335 people, which is roughly three times the number of licenses per head of population in the UK.
DIGI chairman, Richard Dunne, said, "This survey puts paid to the misconception that the licensed trade in Ireland is dominated by a small number of ‘superpubs’ or by large pub chains."
The DIGI survey of licensed premises was conducted by Dublin City University and showed that more than 100,000 people were employed in the licensed trade in Ireland – an increase of 20 per cent over the past five years.
More than half of the public houses surveyed had sales of less than Eu200,000 a year.
