Good Friday drink ban is finally abolished after nearly 100 years

The Dáil has passed legislation to allow pubs to serve alcohol on Good Friday.

Restaurants hailed the decision as great news and said it would allow restaurants to thrive during Easter - one of the busiest weekends of the year.

Adrian Cummins, Chief Executive of the Restaurants Association said: “This is long overdue and will be a huge boost for Irish tourism in 2018 and bring Ireland in line with our EU colleagues and competitors.”

The ban on selling alcohol on Good Friday was first enforced in 1927.

An amendment to the Intoxicating Liquor Act introduced by a number of independent Senators was tabled in the Dáil.

Introducing the bill, Minister of State David Stanton said removing the ban on selling alcohol on Good Friday would help Irish tourism.

"Tourism makes a much greater contribution to our economy and this is particularly true during holidays, such as the busy Easter period.

"In addition changing demographics and increasing diversity in our population have led to a reduction in traditional religious practice.

"Taking all these factors into consideration the Government considered that it was an opportune time to have an examination of the Good Friday restrictions," he said.

Fianna Fáil's Jim O'Callaghan said the provision has been in place since 1927 and should now be removed.

He told the Dáil a prohibition on selling alcohol on St Patrick's Day was removed in the 1960s because it affected tourism.

Mr O'Callaghan said people often found ways of circumventing the ban.

He said: "It used to be the case that people would go to the dog show where you could buy alcohol and get a drink on Good Friday.

"There were occasions where people would go on the train, if you had a ticket for the train, you could buy alcohol on the train.

"We've also heard examples of people when they go into restaurants, maybe putting wine in the teapot, which really undermined the law.

"So what we're seeing is a sensible reason as to why we should change the law to remove the prohibition on Good Friday."