The village of Dunmore in north Galway is rural Ireland heartland, and since March four of its six pubs have been closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Publicans like Martin Leonard, owner of An Dún Rí, are fearful that failure to reopen next Monday will mean shutting shop permanently like other businesses in the town. "I've a mortgage and young children and we’re really struggling at this stage," he said. "I feel angry that the reopening has been pushed out so many times and we’re all paying the price for bigger pubs in cities not adhering to safety measures." Another Dunmore publican, Joe Sheridan, says his core group of 20 drinkers sit at the counter in his pub for a couple of pints several times a week. "This was the primary social