Opinion about the trade is cheap. Records are not. This is what the official and industry counts say, with the source beside each number. The Record page keeps them in charts and is updated as each series is published.

Pubs

  • 2,205 pubs closed between 2005 and 2025, a fall of 25.6% in publican licences to 6,412, about 110 a year (DIGI report by economist Anthony Foley, DCU, 1 September 2026).
  • 86 closed in 2025, up from 65 in 2024 but below the 117 of 2023.
  • Every county lost pubs. Worst: Limerick −37.2%, Offaly −34.1%, Cork −32.7%, Roscommon −32.3%, Tipperary −32.0%. Least: Dublin −1.1%, Wicklow −9.5%, Meath −11.4%.
  • Foley's projection: 600 more closures over the next decade in the optimistic case, up to 1,000 in the pessimistic one.

Late nights

  • 83 nightclubs remain in Ireland, from 522 in 2000, an 84% fall (Give Us The Night, cited by the Irish Examiner, 19 September 2026).
  • 30,651 Special Exemption Orders were granted in 2025, against 31,601 in 2024, 37,597 in 2018 and 93,247 in 2005.
  • Each SEO costs €205 a night (€150 court fee plus €55 excise) before solicitor's fees. The LVA puts the annual cost of two extra hours on three nights a week at about €32,000 plus legal fees.

Restaurants and the wider market

  • The Irish out-of-home food and drink market reached a record €10.4 billion in 2025, up 5%, with another 5% forecast for 2026 (Bord Bia, November 2025). Bord Bia's own caveat: footfall is broadly flat and menu prices are 26% higher than in 2020, so most of the growth is inflation.
  • Limited-service restaurants (fast food, food-to-go) are outgrowing the market; institutional catering grew 15.5% on the back of hot school meals and return-to-office.
  • The Restaurants Association of Ireland counted 612 food-led closures in the twelve months after the VAT rate went back to 13.5% in September 2023. The 9% rate returned for food on 1 July 2026.

People and pay

  • Total employment was 2,839,300 in Q2 2026, up 0.8% on the year; unemployment 5.1% (CSO Labour Force Survey, 20 August 2026).
  • The minimum wage is €14.15 an hour in 2026 and rises to €14.94 from 1 January 2027 (Budget 2027). The employer PRSI step moves from €552 to €600 a week for 2027.

Reading the records together

Dublin has kept its pubs while the rest of the country lost a quarter of them, which is why the two vintners' bodies now campaign on different things: the VFI on rural survival and the new €15 million fund, the LVA on excise, late-night costs and taxis. Spending is up in euros and flat in bodies, so the venues growing are the ones winning share, not riding a tide. And the late-night economy is a third of its 2005 size by the only count the State keeps, which is the strongest argument either side has about licensing reform.