Mark Keenan: Five reasons why the housing crisis is killing suburban and town pubs

Many pubs in Ireland have closed over the last 12 years. Photo: Getty

Mark Keenan

We’ve long heard how the drink-driving laws have killed rural pubs in Ireland. But what about the housing crisis wiping out city and suburban licensed premises?

Pubs were once such a fundamental pillar of Irish society that we applied them universally as stepping stones when giving people directions.