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MORE THAN eight out of 10 restaurants are now losing money and several hundred have closed down since the downturn began, the Restaurants Association of Ireland has said as it launched its rescue plan for the sector.

The association’s chief executive Adrian Cummins estimated that 15 to 20 per cent of restaurants had closed their doors because of the recession. He warned that one in three restaurants would close in the next six months if the Government did not take urgent action. Restaurants in rural areas were being hardest hit.