Irish customers are paying the second-highest rate of excise tax on alcohol in Europe.
Consumers fond of their wine here are paying the highest excise tax among 27 countries in Europe and the UK, behind only Finland. We are paying the second highest on beer behind Finland and the third highest on spirits, trailing Finland and Sweden.
The tax on a pint of beer is 55 cent, in comparison to 21 EU countries who have a beer excise per pint of less than 20 cent. In Germany, it is just five cent.
The Government charges 80 cent tax on a glass of wine in Ireland while in France it is one cent. In Spain, the excise tax on a bottle of whiskey is €2.69, in Ireland – where it is produced in an Irish distillery – the excise tax rate is €11.92.
Councillor Joe Sheridan – the chair of County Galway Vintners [VFI], representing over 400 businesses across the county – said he had been contacted by around 30 publicans this week who were devastated by their soaring energy bills.
“Bills have gone up three-fold. The bill in my own pub in Dunmore has gone from €800 a month to €1,950 and I’d be very frugal with electricity. Members are also getting big increases for insurance, going from €3,000 to 6,000 – even €9,000 in some cases without any injury claims,” he explained.
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Lifestyle – Letterfrack sisters Liz and Yvonne Kane were first captivated by the music of Kilconnell composer Paddy Fahey as children. The two renowned fiddlers have performed all over the world, firstly with Sharon Shannon and later as a duet, playing the traditional music they love. Their new album is in honour of the East Galway legend who inspired them as they tell JUDY MURPHY.
There’s a warmth and sense of fun about Liz and Yvonne Keane that’s infectious.
As they talk about their latest album, In Memory of Paddy Fahey, the fiddler sisters from Letterfrack are fulsome in their praise of the composer from Kilconnell in the East of the county, who played such a crucial role in their lives since their childhood when they began learning music.
A legend in the world of traditional music, Paddy Fahey died in May 2019 at the age of 102, leaving a huge body of work behind him. For the most part, he was a private man who shied away from the limelight. He had a huge fondness for the Kane sisters, though, and when he was awarded Composer of the year at the Gradam Ceoil TG4 in 2001, he invited them to accompany him for his performance that night.
To this day, it’s a memory Yvonne and Liz cherish. And they have since added a new one to their memory bank.
They launched In Memory of Paddy Fahy in the Hill pub, Kiltormer, which is owned by his nephew Donie Campbell, last month. At the event Paddy’s son, John, joined the Kanes for several tunes. John rarely plays in pubic and to have him take part in their concert, celebrating his late father’s music was a special moment for Liz and Yvonne.
They are hoping he’ll join them next week too when they have the Connemara launch, on Wednesday, September 21, as part of this year’s Clifden Arts Festival.
That’ll be its third launch, they say, laughing as they are just back from playing on a Mediterranean cruise with Joanie Madden and Cherish the Ladies, where they also gave it an outing.
And In Memory of Paddy Fahy deserves as many outings as possible, because in every regard, it’s a treasure. It’s the fourth album from the Kane sisters and has 15 of his tunes, alongside some from other composers as well as several of their own and traditional airs including Eochaill and The Stone Outside Dan Murphy’s Door.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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A Different View with Dave O’Connell
It’s hard to believe that this week marked 21 years since we were stopped in our tracks at the sight of two planes exploding at full speed into the sides of the Twin Towers – not alone taking down part of New York’s iconic skyline but rocking our world to its core.
We may have missed the first plane, but every one of us can remember exactly where we were as the second plane followed suit, careering through the smoke of the first crash to explode in front of the eyes of the world.
It was so shocking it was difficult to even take in; the first incident might have been a tragedy caused by pilot error or illness – but there was no mistaking the deliberate intent when the same act of terrorism was repeated just 17 minutes later.
And this time the terrorists had the eyes of the world on their act, because we’d tuned into the live pictures of the smoke billowing from the North Tower – to see the hijackers crash UA Flight 175 into floors 75 to 85 of the South Tower, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building.
I was working in the Irish Star at the time, where we had one television halfway down the newsroom. With the time difference between Dublin and New York, it was just coming up to 2pm, when the management team met to discuss the news stories for next day’s paper.
It didn’t take a brainstorming session to work out what would fill the paper, and the global news agenda, the next day – except it was already impossible to annunciate just what had happened live on every television station on the planet.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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The first meeting of the third Dáil held on Saturday morning last at Leinster House, Kildare-street, the premises of the Royal Dublin Society, recalled for a few minutes some of the stormy scenes at Westminster when Irish affairs were being discussed.
On Saturday, as then, Mr Laurence Ginnell was the central figure. He is apparently always cast for the role of obstructionist in politics, and on Saturday he made full use of his opportunity, with the result that, as at Westminster, he was carried form his seat by three stalwart attendants and expelled from the Assembly.
The Dáil met in the theatre of the house, a semi-circular room with seats rising tier upon tier from an open space in the centre. At the back of the last row of seats there is a promenade, and for some time before the Dáil was due to open, Mr. Ginnell, black band in hand and slouch, hat on head, marched round and round, speaking to no one, but apparently, like an arch conspirator, deep in thought.
Probably he felt lonely, for he was the only one of the anti-treaty members elected to the Dáil who put in an appearance. Miss MacSwiney and the rest, who were known to be in Dublin, have presumably decided to observe a policy of abstention.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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