A Cavan-Monaghan TD says Irish pubs should be considered as world heritage sites. Nearly 2000 pubs have closed across the country since 2005, with 32 percent of all closures in Limerick.
Calls have been made to have pubs join uileann piping and hurling on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage to help them stay open. Fianna Fáil's Niamh Smyth says the "unique atmosphere" of pubs should be protected when developing rural tourism:
"It was one of the recommendations we put forward to the department," Deputy Smyth said, "that they would conduct an audit around rural Ireland to see these assets, as in our pubs, that might actually make the cut in identifying them as potential candidates to make that list of UNESCO intangible cultural heritage."
