The Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI) has claimed that a record year in Irish tourism has helped create an additional 5,000 seasonal pub jobs.
A survey carried out by the representative body found that the 2,500 member pubs located in "traditional tourist areas" employ an average of 4.8 extra staff during the busy summer months from May to September.
This year however, due to increased business, pubs have hired an extra two staff each increasing the number of seasonal staff by 5,000. In total, the amount of seasonal jobs created in 2015 is 17,000.
The figure is based on a survey of 120 VFI-member pubs located in tourist areas. The responses were averaged out across the 2,500 pubs in these areas, according to the Irish Independent.
Padraig Cribben, chief of the VFI spoke of the additional jobs: "[It is] real proof that the tourism trade is well and truly back and highlights its importance to local economies."
Cribben once again called upon the Government to reduce the excise on alcohol, emphasizing the importance of the pub trade to the tourism sector. "The current high level of excise duty is completely unfair on small businesses and I've no doubt that alcohol taxes have damaged our image abroad."
