Pub owners in tourist counties have called for school holidays to be extended to boost sales in late August.

They want a return to the traditional back-to-school in the first week in September to boost the home market and to help with the drop in number of English visitors, a leading member of the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) said.

Minister for Education Richard Bruton has been asked by the VFI to ensure a full closure date for schools in August.

In recent years, the holiday period had been cut short with schools returning in late August and rural pubs and accommodation businesses were badly affected, according to VFI chairman in Kerry Ger Counihan.

Families were confining their August holidays to the first fortnight of the month in order to prepare to return to school, Mr Counihan said.

“This has come up in meeting after meeting but we are afraid to say it because people think it’s all about drink. It is not all about drink. Pubs now are about food and accommodation,” Mr Counihan said.

A cross-tourism forum including the Irish Hoteliers Federation, representatives of caravan parks and B&Bs were also behind the suggestion to lobby for a return of the September school date, sought in recent weeks from Mr Bruton.

“This has become even more important this year with the 10 per cent drop in British visitors, and with Brexit looming,” Mr Counihan said.

‘It’s all about Dublin’

Dublin did not understand the concerns of rural Ireland and “the politicians in Dublin do not think of rural Ireland,” said Mr Counihan, who recently met Minister for Tourism Shane Ross to lobby for a new tax incentive for vintners to provide overnight accommodation. “It’s all about Dublin, Dublin, Dublin.”

In tourist counties such as Kerry, festivals were all being “packaged” into the first two weeks of August – this included the Rose of Tralee which had been brought forward to cater for the return to school date.

However, the VFI call received a lukewarm response from Kerry TD and publican Danny Healy-Rae, who said he was “not convinced” enforcing the September return would make any difference.

“I can’t see any merit in it, while I would like to see the school holidays going into September.”

There were a set number of days for school and if people went back to school earlier at one end, this meant they were able to take longer breaks at the other end, he felt. “It amounts to the same thing,” Mr Healy-Rae said.

The Department of Education has said it had no plans to change the date of return. Secondary schools have to teach 167 days a year and primary 183 and while there is set time for most breaks, there is a degree of flexibility around the summer return date.