Rural pubs will be hit the hardest

Pubs that don’t serve food subject to annual €125 fee per outside table

KILCONNELL Councillor and publican Tim Broderick queried if Galway County Council will bring pub owners to court who are seating customers outside without having paid their street furniture licence fee.

Cllr Broderick was speaking at the June meeting of Galway CoCo in relation to the waiving of the street furniture licence fee by Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien last month for tables and chairs for establishments providing outdoor dining.

Under Section 254 of the Planning and Development Act, pubs that don’t provide food to customers sitting outside their premises must pay a street furniture licence fee of €125 per table to their local authority, while establishments that do serve food are now exempt from that.

“Are we compelled to follow pubs choosing to put furniture outside their premises? Are we going to follow them, enforce this rule, and perhaps bring them to court? What is the sense in that? It’s non-sensical,” said Cllr Broderick, owner of Broderick’s Bar in Kilconnell village...

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