The Mansion House will be getting almost 3,000 more free pints from Diageo next year - on the back of Lord Mayor Nial Ring being granted an additional 95 kegs during his term.

The Irish Independent can reveal Mr Ring has received a further top-up of 20 kegs to add to the 75 extra that were detailed last month.

A long-standing relationship between the Mansion House and the Guinness family sees 120 kegs allowed for a mayoral term - but Mr Ring has been afforded 215 kegs so far, which is close to 20,000 pints.

The additional 20 kegs have been taken from the allocation not used by previous Lord Mayor Mícheál Mac Donncha, the Mansion House has confirmed.

In emails obtained through Freedom of Information, Diageo confirmed to the Mansion House that 150 kegs will be provided between July 2019 and June 2020 - an increase of 30 kegs, which is roughly 2,700 pints.

Mr Ring described it as "great news".

It means that close to 20,000 pints will be served by the time Mr Ring moves out of office at the end of June.

The Lord Mayor said that more than 25,000 people have now visited the Mansion House since he took office in July 2018 and he expects this to surpass the 30,000 mark soon.

He previously said he was delighted the kegs had run dry due to his efforts to get big numbers into the Mansion House over the course of his 12 months at the helm.

In an email to Liam Reid, Diageo's corporate relations director, Mr Ring provided details of the number of functions he had been holding at the Mansion House and said it was his policy to invite as many groups as possible.

Diageo said that it recommended no more than two drinks per person at the events in order to promote responsible drinking.

When contacted on the increase to 150 kegs, a spokeswoman for Diageo said that while it is increasing the allocation next year it plans to revert back to 120 after this.

The company said it remained open to increases in the free beer on a case-by-case basis.

Irish Independent