An odd title for a post, I know, but the changing relationship between Good Friday and the sale of alcohol is actually an indication of how much Ireland today is changing.
If you’ve followed the blog for a while, then you’ll remember this post where we reported that the sale of alcohol on Good Friday, whether in pubs or stores, has always been prohibited since Ireland became a republic. Recently, a rugby match was scheduled to take place in Limerick on Good Friday, so pubs applied for a special exemption to serve alcohol. After much public debate, a judge has allowed alcohol to be served from 6:30-11:30pm today. RTÉ news reported that expected business revenues for both pubs and other local businesses for today’s opening is expected to be €7.5 million.
Reaction was mostly positive, and t-shirt merchants in the area have produced two shirts: one shows Jesus in a rugby shirt with the words “Mass will now take place at Thomond Park”, the other says “Officially Bigger Than the Catholic Church”. Many others in the alcohol industry feel this is a precedent that they can now use to lobby for the ban to be lifted on the entire island in the future.
While this change may not seem significant to those of us who have never lived under this type of ban, what it means in the Irish culture is that the attitude to deferring to the Catholic church’s wishes is fading quickly. Though some people have voiced their dismay, one writer made the connection that, in reality, a rugby match would never have been scheduled on a Good Friday in the past if they felt people would not attend due to religious reasons. The alcohol sales being allowed only shows now the relaxed attitude about the day that did not once exist.
By the way, the only other day it is illegal to sell liquor in Ireland is on Christmas Day. Alcohol sales will be allowed on Easter Sunday.
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