Sir, - Ten years ago visitors from abroad commented on the unique nature of Irish pubs, which seemed sanctuaries of silence where devotees could carry on hushed conversations or savour the rustle of an early evening newspaper. Silence was the necessary and creative companion of talk. So it seemed perfectly natural that, in these conditions, the respect for quiet in Irish pubs should lead to the reputation of the pub as a place for talk, wit, conversation.
A decade later, it seems that Irish pubs, like their British and European counterparts, have decided that silence is an unacceptable luxury. Loudspeakers and television sets vie with each other to hunt down stillness and delete the moments of quiet in our lives. The themed booze-barns filling our towns and cities are loud with the endless loop of classic hits, driving conversations to the margins of corridors and stairwells. In more and more pubs, our voices fight a losing battle against amplification so we end up conducting our conversations like foreign correspondents on television screens, shouting to each other against the noisy backdrop of the world's misery.
PINT (Protection of Indigenous Noiseless Taverns) is an association established to campaign for the removal of piped music from public houses. We invite your readers who are concerned about the scourge of piped music to send expressions of support to our email address at quietpint@ireland.com or to the address below. We also intend publishing a guide to pubs in Ireland which do not have piped music and we would welcome information.
It is not too late to save the Quiet Pint. - Yours, etc.,
Michael Cronin, Peter Sirr, PINT (Protection of Indigenous Noiseless Taverns), 34 Bellevue Park Avenue, Booterstown, Co Dublin.