Matt Cooper: Subsidising rural pub life is only a sticking plaster
If rural drinking effectively needs to be given special treatment, it says much about us as a society
It doesn’t moderate the national stereotype of Ireland as a nation of drinkers when the negotiations to form a new government include proposals for tax incentives and subsidies for some of the owners of the public houses in which we do some of our drinking.
Admittedly, the document on rural affairs discussed by Fine Gael and the various independents in meetings last Tuesday contained a lot more than help for rural publicans, although ...
