NEARLY HALF of all Irish people say they won't be returning to pubs even if they're reopened in the coming weeks.
A poll ran by thejournal.ie suggests the country is completely split on visiting pubs again.
46.8% of respondents say they don't plan on returning to pubs if they reopen soon, while 46.5% say they'd be happy to.
The remaining 6.7% admitted that they weren't sure.
The poll, which has been running since Sunday morning, has received over 17,000 responses.
Last week, the government insisted that the reopening of pubs in Ireland would be one of its top priorities, so long as the reopening of schools goes smoothly, avoiding any significant rise in Covid-19 cases.
Pubs across the country were forced to shut at the very start of the pandemic back in March.
Those able to provide customers with a substantial meal of €9 or over were able to reopen at the end of June, but 'wet pubs' have been told to remain shut.
It's estimated that just over half of pubs around the country are so-called 'wet pubs' and have been unable to open their doors for almost half a year.
Publicans have been putting pressure on politicians to allow pubs to open up again for months now, claiming that if nothing changes soon the industry will struggle to recover, and thousands could face unemployment.
The government is yet to decide on when exactly wet pubs will be allowed to open again, but speculation suggests that it could happen at the end of September or the beginning of October.
If they were to reopen though, pubs will likely need a consistent flow of customers in order to stay afloat. But is 46.8% of their customer-base enough to allow them to do so?
