Drinking establishments are open and serving alcohol _ thanks to recently legislation that overturned a b...

DUBLIN (AP) - Guinness is flowing in Irish pubs on a Good Friday for the first time in 90 years. Share this article with Google Plus

Drinkers in Ireland are being served alcohol in pubs for the first time on a Good Friday since 1927

Queues formed outside pubs, some of which opened at 7am, to mark the lifting of the Good Friday drinking ban. According to publicans' group the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) - whose interest is clear - it could generate as much as 40m euros (£35m; $49m) in sales - plus 7m for the exchequer through VAT and excise duty. Chief executive Padraig Cribben said “the Good Friday ban is from a different era and is rightfully consigned to history.”

Cribben said the change meant pub owners now had a choice whether to open, “like all other businesses who were never subject to a ban.”

The closing requirement had often surprised tourists arriving in Ireland for the long Easter weekend. Chief executive Padraig Cribben said “the Good Friday ban is from a different era and is rightfully consigned to history.”

The Intoxicating Liquor Act of 1927 prohibited the sale of alcohol on Christmas Day, Good Friday and St. Patrick’s Day. The ban on St. Patrick’s Day was abolished in 1960, while the Christmas Day prohibition remains in place.
The government of Ireland lifts a 90-year ban on the sale of alcohol on the religious holiday of Good Friday.