Up to 22,500 jobs are at risk in the drinks sector due to Covid-19, according to a new report.
It also shows pubs are on track for a 50% decline in business for the rest of this year due to higher unemployment and reduced earnings.
Bodies that represent pubs are calling for cuts to the VAT rate to help the 7,000 around the country.
"23% served in the pub, and in terms of food it's 13.5%," said DCU Professor of Economics Tony Foley on the VAT rate, who authored the report.
"But there is an EU provision which allows pubs to have a levy of VAT, which is the same rate as food. Now, the expectation the 13.5% will be dropped to 9% in the Government's stimulation plan. So the proposal is the serving of alcohol in pubs and bars should be down to 9%."
The report claims cutting the VAT rate would help the industry a lot. "The basic finding of that is that it would cost €143 million in terms of exchequer resources," continued Professor Foley. "If that was done on a temporary basis from August to December."
"It's basically proposed on a temporary basis to deal with the what you could call the dire business circumstances and constraints on the licenced trade because of Covid-19, and to a lesser extent the recession."
