Ireland is now the only country in the EU in which wet pubs are not allowed to open.

The Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) has called for a reopening roadmap for the 3,500 pubs that are closed across the country. The umbrella organisation that represents Ireland’s drinks and hospitality industry, including pubs, restaurants, hotels, off-licences, brewers, and distillers, has called for a roadmap to bring certainty to publicans and comfort to local communities. It said that that the lockdown of pubs is severely impacting rural towns and villages all across Ireland. According to DIGI, a debate centred around the reopening of the 3,500 wet pubs needs to happen, and that a roadmap for the reopening be "prioritised urgently". The group is also calling for a reduction in excise tax in Budget 2021 as data shows Irish pubs and bars have endured the longest lockdown in the EU. The DIGI has called on the government to provide some comfort to local communities to assure them normality will resume, saying: "The alternative is devasted communities and job losses as businesses will fold." This comes after the LVA said that the pub closures were driving thousands of pubs into mortgage default. Last week, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that he can't say "with any certainty" that wet pubs will reopen again in 2020.