Rural pubs are closing at a rate of more than one a day as drinkers move their custom to urban bars and off-licences, new figures show.
Almost 440 fewer pub licences were issued or renewed last year compared to 2005, according to the figures compiled by the Revenue Commissioners. This is the steepest decline ever recorded.
The Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI) responded to the figures yesterday by calling on the Government to give rates relief to rural pubs and reductions in vehicle registration tax for members who provide transport for their customers.
"Small post offices are gone, corner shops have been decimated and even the church is suffering a shortage of priests. Now the last bastion of rural Ireland where people interact socially is under threat," said Paul Stevenson, president of the VFI.
The biggest falls were recorded in the Border, Midlands and Western (BMW) counties, where 227 pub licences were lost, and in counties Kerry, Cork, Clare and Limerick, where licences fell by 130.
In contrast, Dublin lost just 10 licences and the rest of Leinster 70.
While pub numbers are plummeting, the off-licence trade is booming.
There were 46 additional off-licences in Munster last year, 155 in Leinster and 46 in Dublin.
In the BMW region, however, the number of off-licences fell by 40.
Vintners' groups have been warning about the difficulties faced by rural pubs since the smoking ban was introduced in 2004 and random breath-testing started last year.
However, these figures are even worse than they predicted, as the opening of new pubs in urban centres is partly offset by a bigger fall in pub licences in rural areas.
"The number of rural pubs closing is even greater than was thought," said Constance Cassidy SC, an expert on licensing law.
"However, there has been a redistribution of licences in accordance with public demand, rather than any being lost.
"People want to drink at home, or in hotels."
Although drink licensing has been liberalised in recent years, it is still necessary to extinguish one drinks licence to create another.
Many rural pub licences are being bought by business interests who use the permit to open an urban pub or off-licence.
Demand has been particularly heavy from convenience stores which need a licence to sell beer.
Another trend has seen up to 40 per cent of pub sales, particularly in high-value urban areas, go to developers who seek to build apartments on the site.
According to Ms Cassidy, the market price for a pub licence is about €175,000-€185,000, compared to about €85,000 in 2000.
The counties suffering the greatest loss of pubs are Mayo, which lost 91 licences last year, and Galway, down by 55. Limerick had 43 fewer licences, Kerry 33, Clare 29, Tipperary 27 and Cork 25.
Overall, there are about 8,500 pubs in the State.