Inside Leinster House €94,000 booze splurge since politicians’ return – as patrons enjoy cut price Dail bar
LEINSTER House revellers have splashed out more than €94,000 on cut-price booze since the building reopened for business in September last year.
Thirsty politicians, staff and guests quickly got into their stride following a slow start to life after a Covid-enforced spell in the National Convention Centre.
The €94,012.20 total over just seven months in the two bars and restaurant included more than €56,000 on wine, €28,000 on beer and almost €9,000 on spirits - the remainder a mix of the three from the bar served in the restaurant.
But despite prices of just €4.80 for Guinness and €4.90 for a measure of gin contributing to the healthy turnover, politicians reckon the spiralling prices of pints elsewhere should come down rather than Oireachtas jars going up.
'MORE EXPENSIVE THAN KERRY'
Publican and Independent TD Danny Healy Rae said: “I wouldn’t have a view that the pint in the Dail bar should go up or anything like that, it’s still way more expensive than the places I know in Kerry.”
Monthly booze sales of just €4,310.50 in September 2021 were up to €19,220.80 by March 2022, dipping only in January when politicians were on holidays.
The Dail sat for just eight days in September, and five in January which might explain the lower turnover.
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However in December, when the Dail sat just eight times, revellers spent just under €36,000 on booze in the Oireachtas restaurant and bars.
Sales of wine in the bars and restaurant where a glass of house plonk costs €5.50 have gone from strength to strength, helped in no small part by the surge in demand at Christmas time.
Patrons splashed out €43,565.50 over the seven months in the restaurant, more than €26,000 of which came in December when the sales of 445 single wine gift bags, 202 double gift bags and 66 cases of six bottles contributed to a bumper month.
WINE SALES OF €69K
In the bar, wine sales were worth more than €12,700 taking wine sales up to almost €69,000 in that time.
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Wine sales in bars and restaurants combined soared from less than €2,000 in September to more than €7,500 last March when the Dail sat 12 times.
The figures, supplied to the Irish Sun under Freedom of Information, also show more than €24,000 was spent on draft beer and €4,181.20 on bottles.
Guinness at just €4.80 a pint was the most popular tipple, with 3,354 jars poured between September 2021 and March at a cost of more than €16,000.
More than half of those - 1,819 - were sunk in the last two months alone.
The low cost of a pint when compared to Dublin averages of around €6 might explain some of the demand.
Although some TDs were surprised at the price when contacted by the Irish Sun.
PBP/Solidarity’s Gino Kenny said: "It's actually only €4.80 in there? I didn't actually realise that.
'DEPENDS WHERE YOU GO'
"The average pint of Guinness in Dublin city is probably €5.70. Obviously it depends, the price goes up by the minute.
"I could go across to the Merrion Hotel or the Shelbourne where you'd pay at least €7 for a pint of Guinness, it depends where you go.
"All I can say is there's a Dail bar for TDs and Senators and there's a public bar. I've never been in the TD bar, but at the public bar I've had one pint of Guinness there."
Tipperary Independent Michael Lowry, who insisted he had no insight into why prices were set so low, said: "To be honest with you, I don't drink pints of Guinness so I'm not aware of what the price of it is.
“Certainly there's a fluctuation in prices around the city and particularly between rural Ireland and the city."
TOTAL FOOD AND BEVERAGE SALES
DAIL BAR
- September: 10,150.65
- October: 13,873.82
- November: 18,260.10
- December: 19,966.70
- January: 9,676.55
- February: 24,919.65
- March: 28,930.60
- Total: 125,777.92
RESTAURANTS & SELF SERVICE
- September: 41,953.40
- October: 46,040.85
- November: 60,128.70
- December: 70,901.85
- January: 31,181.30
- February: 69,811.95
- March: 71,226.35
- Total: 391,244.40
Deputy Healy Rae added: "If we go to a place like Kilgarvin the price of a pint is €4.10 and if we go to a place like Kilmakilloge it's €3.90.
"In rural Ireland the prices are much less than that [In Dail bar]. I don't know what the price in the Dail bar is, you're saying it's so much, because I don't drink you see, it's tea I drink.
"I do go into the bar maybe late at night to meet someone or whatever. I wasn't aware of the price of the pint there but what I do know is the price in our own village and different places around Kerry the pint is €4.10 or €4.20 - for the most part.
"In Temple Bar and places we hear it can be maybe €8. I don't know how they think ordinary people can pay that kind of money.”
GINCREDIBLE
Heineken, retailing at €5.20 compared with €6.20 and more in the city, was the second most popular draft beer with 722 pints poured (295 of those in February and March).
Spirits were also popular, with tills ringing to the tune of €8,836.10 over the seven months.
Cork Dry at just €4.90 a measure is consistently the most popular, ahead of the more expensive Bombay (€5.50).
Leinster House has taken in over half a million euro in total on food and drink since September.
TDs, Senators, staff and guests enjoy access to the finest food and drink at prices others could only dream of, including self-service steak dinners for €7.95 and large brekkies for just €3.40.
BUSINESS IS BOOMING
Business at the restaurant and self-service points is booming, taking in more than €390,000 from September to March.
Some €290,000 of that was on food and just under €100,000 on beverages of all kinds.
Trade at the infamous Dail bars - one of which is for members and one allows visitors- got off to a slow start on politicians' return but other than a post-Christmas dip in January, takings have increased every month from just over €10,000 in September to €28,930 in March.
THE PRICE IS RIGHT
PATRONS of the Oireachtas bars and restaurant have access to an array of keenly priced food and drink, including
- Tea (self serve) 60c
- Americano (self serve) 1.25
- 4-item breakfast (self serve) 3.40
- Lunch mains (turkey and stuffing is a popular choice) 6.20
- Dinner steak self service 7.95
- Tayto cheese and onion 90c
- Twix 1.05
- Wrap 3.95
- Gourmet burger (restaurant) 11.40
- Sausage roll 1.40
This includes bar food, hot and cold drinks and booze.
There was no breakdown of costs between the bars in the figures supplied to us.
Customers spent €125,777 in the two watering holes between September and March, some €47,190 on food, €69,550 on beverages and the rest on cigarettes and...fruit pots.
When it comes to bread, the gluten-free craze has yet to truly catch on, customers chowing down hundreds of brown or white every month with as few as one and as many as four of the alternatives limping off the shelves.
NO DEBT WRITE-OFFS
Dozens of members enjoyed their food and drink on credit, but under the Oireachtas Catering Facilities credit facility they are only given two months to clear their tabs after previously unpaid debts were simply written off.
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Two members who racked up catering bills of €1,315.75 and €1,108.40 in February will be compelled to pay that off by card or through salary deductions if not paid by this month.
In February, tabs of €307.65, €271.70, €2.30.70 and €203.40 were racked up at the Oireachtas Bar.
