Sir, – Can anyone explain the reasoning behind Ireland’s pubs being forced to close on Good Friday? After all it is not even a public holiday. It would be particularly interesting to hear Alan Shatter’s explanation, given that he is free of Roman Catholic baggage.
What has always amused me somewhat is that in “pagan” England, Good Friday is recognised as a special day and given the status of a public holiday – though of course pubs are open, as they are on every other day, including Christmas Day when it is a ritual to have a couple of drinks at the local before the turkey.
“Holy Catholic Ireland” has never seen fit to mark Good Friday in any way (other than decree that pubs must close) and I return to my opening question – why are the pubs closed?
Undoubtedly it stems from the early days of the State when the Roman Catholic Church dictated government policy – but those days are gone forever, hastened by the church’s abuses of those in its care.
So in a multicultural, multi-religious 21st-century Ireland why are the pubs closed on Good Friday? – Yours, etc,