ROI Craft Brewery Law Change Hurts NI Brewers and Hospitality Sector

11 August 2017

Commenting on the Irish government’s decision to allow craft breweries to sell their products to their visitors, Colin Neill, Chief Executive of Hospitality Ulster, said it is a further blow to the sector in Northern Ireland.

"This latest decision by the Irish government to allow craft breweries to sell their products to visitors is further evidence, if it were needed, of how the laws governing our hospitality sector need updated and modernised as a matter of urgency.

It now means that craft brewers will have the advantage of being able to market and sell their beer to visitors, giving them a huge competitive advantage over our own craft brewers, potentially helping put some of them out of business. Furthermore it adds to the south’s tourist offering, in fact that was a major reason for the change according to the Irish government.

In the craft beer and spirits market consumer engagement is key and only last year we had the bizarre spectacle of the BBC’s Good Food show coming to Northern Ireland but under the law our brewers couldn’t sell anything at the show.

It comes just days after the government in Dublin moved closer to removing all restrictions on the sale of alcohol over the Easter period, in stark to contrast to our own publicans, hoteliers and restauranteurs who are still contending with restrictions over the whole period.

While the south moves to modernise its licensing laws, we stay still, putting us at a major disadvantage.

The hospitality sector employs sustains more than 60,000 jobs in Northern Ireland and contributes more than £1.1 billion to the local economy annually. Tourism, of which hospitality is a key plank, generates revenues of £1.6 billion for the NI economy.

The archaic laws which govern our hospitality sector must be changed as a matter of urgency either through a restored Assembly, or in its absence via direct rule from Westminster."