'The number one priority right now is to try and cut the cost of doing business': Cork publican takes VFI helm early

Cork publican Michael O’Donovan’s early accession to the post of president of the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI), following the election of the previous president as a Fine Gael TD in the recent general election, came into effect earlier this week when the chain of office was handed over after a meeting of the VFI council.

Mr O’Donovan, who represents the third generation of his family to run the Castle Inn on South Main St, took over as president on Tuesday evening after the decision by John Clendennen, recently elected as a TD for Offaly, to focus on his political career.

The Cork publican had been elected as president-elect last April and was due to take over in April of this year — but his term has now officially begun, and he will remain in the post until 2027.

“The number one priority right now is to try and cut the cost of doing business for our members,” he said. “Energy is still at an all-time high, albeit it is coming down, though it’s nowhere near what it was in 2018/19 even early 2020 — we’d like to see energy costs coming down because that’s a huge cost on every business.

“Then there’s Government costs, Government legislation over the last few years, there’s labour costs, auto-enrolment is coming down the tracks, there’s employers’ PRSI.

“They’ve given a commitment on the food Vat, but the general Vat rate of 23%, that was 21% when the Troika came in, and it was put up to 23% to help the finances of the country.

“Now that the finances of the country are in a stable position, we’d like to see that cut — obviously it won’t happen all together, though if we saw 1% in the next year or two, and it back at the 21% in the lifetime of this Government, it would put money in everybody’s pockets and everybody would have more disposable income to spend, so it would be a big help for business.”

Mr O’Donovan said he is generally optimistic about the future of Irish pubs and pointed out that Irish-themed pubs are doing well all over the world.

He said that the nature of the business had changed over the years, as publicans were competing with the front room, where people could watch Netflix or sports, and this meant that publicans had to constantly invest and improve their offer.

He pointed out that last year saw the fewest pub closures since 2018, and said that the increasing availability and demand for non-alcoholic beers were also having a positive impact on the pub industry.