Sir, - Michael Smith of An Taisce appears to be ignorant of the ways of the world of commerce. It is highly unlikely that anyone would pay £750,000 for a licence for a small pub.
He is not the only person living in fairyland. The authors of the recent Review of Liquor Licensing seem to be similarly afflicted. Their proposals to liberalise the grant of liquor licences should be of considerable interest to An Taisce since they would lead, if implemented, to the destruction of a great many historic buildings throughout the country. If it becomes easy and cheap to set up a pub in any chip shop, this will mean that existing pubs will lose their value and it will no longer pay to invest large sums in them. Pubs will go in and out of business in the way that restaurants tend to do already, and the traditional Irish pub, which is copied throughout the world, will become a thing of the past.
To see what will happen we only have to go to South Boston, which is a little bit of Ireland transferred to the liberally licensed US. There we have long rows of neon-lit soulless barns lining the main streets. Is that what An Taisce wants? - Yours, etc.,
Brian Crowley, Lower Pembroke Street, Dublin 2.