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UNTIL THE EARLY 1900s, Irish whiskey led the world’s spirits trade before a perfect storm of politics, prohibition and technology decimated the country’s producers.
Now, after over a century of decline, the industry will soon hit a new peak in exports as it rides a resurgence in demand from a new crop of distillers.
In an interview with TheJournal.ie yesterday to mark the Irish Whiskey Association’s new “vision” for the sector, group chairman Bernard Walsh through the 1800s and early 1900s the industry “had it all”.
“But it’s fair to say that we blew it back then. For me, the biggest single factor was technology.”
Production peaked at an estimated 12 million cases from 88 licensed distilleries before the turn of the last century, before the industry went into near-terminal decline.
That was partially down to the introduction of prohibition in the US, where Irish whiskey was the top imported spirit, combined with the trade-killing effects of the War of Independence and Civil War.
But Walsh said it was Irish whiskey producers’ reluctance to capitalise on the invention of the column still that handed Scottish whisky makers an overwhelming advantage.
An Irishman, Aeneas Coffey, patented the device, which made it much easier to produce palatable spirits, however it was Scottish distillers producing whisky blends who embraced it wholeheartedly.
It put daylight between ourselves and the Scots,” Walsh said.
A slow resurgence
Only two distillers remained by the mid 1980s, however since then whiskey has gone through a slow but steady resurgence.
The first new, independent producer in Cooley Distillery opened in 1987 and French distiller Pernod Ricard put its weight behind Jameson after buying out Irish Distillers in 1988.
Last year there were eight working distilleries in the country with several more opened or in construction since.
Yesterday the association announced it was targeting a near-quadrupling of exports from 6.5 million to 24 million cases per year by 2030. The previous high-water mark of 12 million cases would be overhauled by 2020.
‘A massive commitment’
Walsh said the whiskey industry had been neglected for other key exports like beef and dairy, and there remained major obstacles for new distillers – from funding their operations to finding the necessary expertise.
“Getting involved in the Irish whiskey business is a massive commitment, there is no quick buck to be made – this is a long-term business,” he said.
There is a huge wait time, you make it today you still have to wait three years before you can call it whiskey and in most cases, most of our whiskeys are six, seven, eight, nine years old before we get to drink them anyone. We need the government to be innovative in its incentives to help the small, new entrants.”
In this extended interview, Walsh talks about the rise and fall of the Irish whiskey industry – and what still stands in the way of its potential for rapid growth:
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Jaysus just when you thought there was no way to make the bus system even more complicated. Good luck to the elderly and tourists… flippin heck
@Eugene Tyson: infact it will be much easier. We don’t need to make decisions anymore. Apps do this. Guaranteed there will be an app to tell you what bus to get and where to get on/off/transfer.
I’ll be able to get any bus and end up at home in a shorter period of time due to the updated frequencies and orbital routes.
Actually, there’s already an app. It’s called Google Maps. Even if Dublin Bus feck up on the app side, Google Maps will be updated immediately to reflect this system.
@Karl Phelan: cant wait to see it in action… sounds like a blast. If this was to convince people to ditch the car for the bus service then they have failed. Sounds like a mess. But lets cross our fingers and toes …
@Karl Phelan: OAPs dont use Google maps.
@Anne: youre not wrong but i think had a tad of irony. But youre right oaps will struggle with this farce. My mother-in-law cant turn the telly on. How the heck is she going to plot out her orbital route along the spine???
@Eugene Tyson: Well, how does she do it now? Obviously anyone who’s familiar with their current bus route will have to learn a new one, anyone who’s new to the area will have to figure things out as they do now (although it should be easier) and anyone who’s incapable of doing so will remain incapable of doing so.
@Derek Walsh Ⓥ: i generally have to turn the telly on and put it on hdmi 2 so the sky box works.
@Eugene Tyson: It will be easier, change is hard. The sword road currently has 11, 13, 16, 33 and 41. These will all become A buses. The number is only important at the ends of the route. Understanding a single letter is much easier than the mess we have today.
@Eugene Tyson: off topic, but if you enable hdmi-cec, then the TV should turn on to the right input when you turn on your sky box.
@Karl Phelan: The TFI app is already pretty good for finding public transport routes around the city (and the rest of the country). There’s a web version at http://a-b.ie
@Karl Phelan: How on earth will it be easier or quicker when most people will now have to get two buses instead of one?
@Karl Phelan: It will not work that way. It is an NTA app or actually a TFI app and it sucks. There are whole chunks of the city left out and it will be much more complicated
@Mark Boyle: Not that simple in actual fact if you study it you will find all sorts of problems.
@Gulliver Foyle: I’ve only got hdmi 1 and 2 any suggestions thanks
So does that mean if a old person wants to travel out of the city they have to change buses plus what happens if it’s raining not every stop as a shelter
@Mark Finlay: well from what i just read 10 times to understand it. Instead of getting 27 from tallaght. I will need to take a D2 to crumlin…then get off and get on the D spine to head into city centre… two buses…possibly adding 10 minute wait time… lets face it they wont be on time so that adds 20-30 mins …hope that you can pay with one ticket…
@Eugene Tyson: no, the D2 will continue to the city centre. They won’t terminate at the begining of the spine, but along the spine all D numbers will run
@Porterkev: Perhaps im reading it wrong. But it says when the D spine gets to crumlin it splits off and the D2 heads to tallaght and the D3 heads to milltown.
@Eugene Tyson: exactly, all D numbers run along the spine to Crumlin, and then split. So you can get any D number from the city centre along the spine to Crumlin. If you are on the D2, that will then go on to Tallaght, you won’t have to change bus. If you are on a D3 and want to go to Tallaght, you get off at Crumlin and change to a D2
@Porterkev: so it is essentially the 27 so youre telling me they renamed the 27 to the D2? Ground-breaking if so…
@Porterkev: but it could mean that D will just terminate at Crumlin and then all other Ds will start there …so a change of bus regardless…?
@Anne: Thats the way i read it too. I thought that was the point. The D2 does the orbital run to tallaght in theory increasing the frequency of the bus as it does not go through town. If you want to go into town you transfer to the D spine which brings you through the town… i thought the orbital buses just did their orbit …
@Mark Finlay: Ah rain, nearly forgot about that.
@Eugene Tyson: yes that’s what i think
@Anne: I’m not sure the spine buses will terminate at the points shown. Looking simply, there will be no “A” bus, but only the split buses – A1(15), A2(15A). essentially, if you want to simulate this, you can currently get any 15 bus from town (which is more frequent), and then get of and wait for the same final destination bus at Terenure. The idea of frequent spine buses is good, but it would require infrastructure termination spots – this is just renaming and adjusting frequency, which is basic traffic management.
@Eugene Tyson: it’s very simple, all D buses will go from balgriffin to crumlin, much like the 15, 27, 42, 43 all go from town to Clarehall. However, beyond that point, the number on the D bus will tell you where it goes. So if you’re on a D2 it will always go balgriffin to crumlin, but southbound will continue on to tallaght. It’s actually a very simple and straightforward system.
@Eugene Tyson: The D2 IS the D Spine. The D spine is where all the D routes combine. The D is not a route. The D is the route that the D1, D2, D3, and D4 all follow.
Chapelizod is currently served by buses every 5 to 10 minutes. Under the new plans it would be every 30 minutes.
Doesn’t seem like much of an improvement there.
@anything anything: I’m fairly sure you or the Journal are reading it wrong.
@anything anything: Chapel Lizard (I refuse to change from what I thought it was growing up) is a traffic trap. There was never a need for so many busses to go that way. Three Lucan busses and three or four lexlip/maynooth/celbridge busses. It was nonsense.
@David Duffy: There is every need for more buses through Chapelizod. I have lived there for 11 years and bus out to UCD every day, 2 buses each way. It’s ridiculous in the mornings trying to get a bus into town, no buses for ages, or they all pass through without stopping because they are packed… then eventually three pull up together. One bus every half hour is definitely not sufficient for the volumes of people using the service along this route. Let’s not forget the poor individuals waiting at islandbridge where you have a better chance of winning the lotto than getting a bus to let you on. Paying well over €120 a month for a bus ticket to wait in the rain or when I do manage to get on I have to squeeze in like a sardine in a run because there is standing room only. Unreliable service
@Mark Boyle: According to the map it looks like Chapelizod won’t be getting the more frequent ‘spine’ bus routes, they’ll be going on the bypass. I hope I’m wrong though.
@Hilary Cassidy: Totally agree. Buses at rush hour are a nightmare. Even the new(ish) 26 in the morning isn’t really enough.
Also, living this close to town, at off-peak times it’s great being able to just go to the bus stop and not have to time a bus.
@anything anything: The C spine route replaces the 25a and 25b through Chapelizod and will run every 6 min, 3 min at peak times.
@anything anything: They looked at this though, They measured how many people were getting on buses on the Road towards Chapelizod and it was barely any. They moved the routes to the Bypass to make the journey quicker for people travelling from Lucan.
The “taking 2 buses is a disaster” argument: this is the concept that works across metros, train networks, airlines around the world. The “but me aul mam won’t be able to understand it”: plenty of aul wans get trains to limerick, Killarney, Tralee etc and know how to change. And yes, people over 80 head over and back to Australia, US etc changing planes. I think they’ll be able to manage Perrystown to Fairview.
@Oisín O’Connor: thats not really the argument. Its the one bus vs two bus argument. And it could be more complex than changing over planes. Its a small city and it does not need a complex bus route thats hard to understand. Madrid and london are much bigger and have simpler bus routes. What do we do, copy that…no lets make up our own untested complex method rather than relying on ones that are already in existence and work perfectly.
@Eugene Tyson: but sitting on a bus for 40 minutes on one street isn’t nice for older people either. And I’m not talking about the quays , Chapo, kilmainham, Cherry Orchard all have those waits. (dunno where your ma lives though in fairness).
@Oisín O’Connor: What about people with disabilities or illness. Sitting in the cold for what could be long stretches of time. The I am all right Jack attitude is sad. As far as people traveling distance they usually have assistance if the run into an issue,
Any scheme with Shane Ross’s name attached to it is probably just a money wasting exercise……….
@Sean Higgins: agreed …how much money has been spent on this farce? Shane Ross: Stand at the N4 stop opposite liffey valley at 7 am on a monday morning in the winter and watch the packed buses drive by as theres no room on them. Theres only one simple answer. Tripple the fleet for rush hour times. Mon-Fri 6am to 10am and 3pm to 7pm … thats the answer.
@Sean Higgins: Typical attitude here to dismiss something without understanding it. This is months of work led by an international expert and the coordination by the agencies. It’s the very definition of planning and joined-up thinking that people here moan doesn’t happen in Ireland. Now it’s happening and all you can do is make a joke about our waste of a Minister for Transport.
@Mark Boyle: its not going to work. It will be a disaster. Like everything else.
@Eugene Tyson: Triple the fleet = gridlock.
@Mark Boyle: The system has more holes in it than a colander. It is a US consultant with NTA backing. The plan has some serious flaws and thats without even one bus running. Let alone the operaional screw ups that happen all the time.
I remember that summer in Dublin …. and I got on the orbital bus
I live no more than 5k from the city center. Currently I have a bus that goes there every 30 minutes . Thats not great. But from this plan I dont even have a bus directly to the city. So for me and all those around me…it seems we have to travel away from the city to then catch another bus to the city. Seems ridiculous for what should be a trip of just over 4k. I agree with the smaller bus roots serving local areas but not at the expense of the ones we have!
@Anne: If the overall trip including transfer is faster and more frequent and the fare remains the same, is that an improvement?
@Mark Boyle: yes, that would be an improvement if that is the case…will have to wait and see
@Anne: The entire plan has been developed with this in mind. Removing direct routes is only considered if transfers would make the overall journey faster.
I actually think it’s explained badly… it isn’t just ONE A bus that brings you from city centre to the A1, A2, A3 etc. They all run from the city centre. This is called the A spine as all A busses run. This is how there is an increased service. You only need to change or wait for the correct number if you are going beyond where that spine ends! Complicated I know, but the report is easier to read than this article.
@L ORourke: this is copied from the independent:
“A commuter in Ballyfermot currently uses the 79 or 79a which runs directly into the city. Those routes will be replaced with the S4. A passenger will board the S4, before changing to the G spine and continuing into the city.”
Thats two buses. And they want to bring in 2 fares a short fare and a 90 min fare. In fairness, the 90 min fare will cover bus luas and dart. Which is a nice addition. But two buses will be needed most of the time…at least.
@Eugene Tyson: Without referring to a map, that quote from the Indo is a bit misleading. The G spine would run roughly to the Centra on Ballyfermot Road, before it splits; the G1 going down Clifden Road to Park West, and the G2 onwards to Liffey Valley. It’s likely most people in the area won’t need to change at all.
(The S4 would run from Liffey Valley to Ballyfermot, Bluebell, Walkinstown, Rathgar, Clonskeagh and ending in UCD).
Chapelizod is currently served by buses every 5 to 10 minutes. Under the new plans it would only be every 30 minutes.
Doesn’t seem like much of an improvement there.
@anything anything: Because Chapelizod doesnt NEED that level of service.
So my elderly mother will have to get off her bus and wait for another one to complete her relatively short journey? This is progress? How many ‘experts’ were paid thousands to contribute to this ludicrous plan?
@Sharon Murphy: If it’s a short journey it’s unlikely that she’ll have to change buses if she doesn’t now. Unless she’s very unlucky, this plan will increase the frequency of buses she can get and reduce her journey time.
Assuming you replied to the call for public feedback, I’m sure they factored in your response.
@Derek Walsh Ⓥ: so its fine for the lucky ones?
@Eugene Tyson: It’s a significant improvement for most people, a vast improvement for some people, and a minor deterioration for as few people as possible.
@Sharon Murphy: Maybe you should give your elderly mother some credit. She’s probably well capable of changing buses and perhaps the new connections will make other journeys possible.
@Sharon Murphy: Waiting for a bus is not the end of the world stop treating elderly people like Glass statues. I assume your mother is currently capable of waiting for a bus?!
@Derek Walsh Ⓥ: So the time waiting in the cold is not an issue or a person in a wheelchair is not an issue either!
How will the change over points work? Will there be a formalised queuing system based on 1st arrival 1st depart or will it be a free for all? Will there be buses waiting to depart as per the schedule or will there be a delay. How long will it take to unload one bus and reload another bus ? I am not a regular user of Dublin Bus other than to travel from Heuston to City Centre which gives me (personally) little confidence in a system which requires bus swapping.
@Jimmy McCarthy: People already change buses. They just currently do it in the city centre because there are almost no orbital routes. As someone who does use the service regularly, and has used all sorts of public transport all over the world, I’m confident that most of us will be able to deal with it.
@Jimmy McCarthy: Heuston is a special case because hundreds of people pour out of it every five or ten minutes at rush hour, and there’s only one 145 every ten minutes. Part of the plan involves changing the fare system so you don’t need to talk to the driver, just tag on with a Leap card and everyone gets on much faster.
Could they hire an expert to design bus shelters for Irish weather. The existing are designed for sunny days with no wind. Changing buses in Dublin as part of your commute means proper shelters are needed where old people won’t freeze to death or are drenched.
If the design was comfortable, I think they know that homeless people would sleep there. That’s why it’s designed that way – uncomfortable seats to perch on, windbreak at the back of the queue, while the queue is facing towards the next bus – isn’t it?
No 79 for the people of Ballyfermot. There will be blood on the streets…
@Stee: There really won’t. They’ll quickly learn the name of the new bus and any changes to the route. Life well go on largely as before.
@Derek Walsh Ⓥ: get the s4 to the g spine then to city centre. Sounds like a reasonable request … pay 2 fares. What a world we live in.
@Eugene Tyson: There wouldn’t be two fares. There would be one fare. There’s a necessary trade-off between frequency of service and number of transfers. I’m happy to hop off one bus and get on another if it saves me time and doesn’t cost me anything. I imagine most people will be.
@Eugene Tyson: Except that you won’t be paying two dates because part of the open is a 90 minute ticket that offers free transferred between buses, trams and trains.
@Derek Walsh Ⓥ: What about if you cant hop off the bus but it takes time because you are in a wheelchair. Then what. That will slow things up now wont it. Or if you have a guide dog or intellectual difficulties. It will not be so easy for a lot of people including the old and people with buggies etc
Looks like an absolute mess tbh except for the orbital routes which were badly needed. They should just throw on more expresso ‘X’ buses during the day to get into the city centre.
@Róisín M: The plan includes Express peak Only Services.
Only route that would affect me would be the route with Irish rail if only they’d sort out their WiFi and on board booking system and a cheaper trolly shop might just might makes travelling with them more comfortable
@Liam Ward: Unfortunately the Wi-fi and trolley on the trains are completely outside the scope of the redesigned bus network.
So what about fleets going from town to Portmarnock/Malahide? With the amount of houses being built out there they would be mad not to include more and frequent routes in that direction
@Jennifer: Skimming chapter 7 of the report, it looks like the focus in Malahide and Portmarnock is the DART – bus 281 in particular is intended to meet the DART, but there’ll also be D1 and 60 straight to town if that suits better. They expect the DART to run every 20 minutes, with no extra charge for transferring between bus, DART and Luas.
@Andrew McCarthy: the problem with their assumptions around Malahide/Portmarnock is that everyone lives in Malahide Town, when really people live in the estates in the east and west. The proposed plans really decimate a good public transport system in the area that has been fine tunes over the last 10 years. All the buses they are planning to cancel are very busy routes with no alternatives.
@Piero Tintori: Would a bus serving wider Malahide to the DARt station not be better than getting a bus all the way in?
5 minute departures are a waste of time. One set of lights on red or a traffic incident and 3 buses end up stuck behind each other. All this will create is multiple buses passing at same time frustrating passengers.
@AlanH -AFC: At the moment, Buses that use the same roads are not scheduled to be spread out. They follow their own schedules and ignore other buses schedules.
The spines will at the very least be SCHEDULED to not come all at once. At the moment, they are.
Is this like the JCT E5 F7 G8 M9 that uncomplicated the road network??
All main spine routes will need full length bus corridors which are not there at present, also most the orbital connections will need bus lanes to reach spine connection areas. So where are the bus lanes nice coloured lines are lovely but in reality. Are cars expected to vanish off roads along with the cyclists using the bus lanes as is at the moment holding buses up. €500k to draw some lines and numbers on a board nice little earner
@Anthony Whelan: The Bus Lane project is separate.
@Kevin Carter: True and it has to pass the councillors who the people whos gardens get taken off them and their trees cut down may have something to say about that too
All routes to kilmacanogue axed. We are really going backwards. Progress me h o l e.
@Eileen O’Sullivan: Route 211, running every thirty minutes, from Kilmacanogue to Bray DART station and on to Sallynoggin and Dun Laoghaire.
Ah brilliant getting rid of the 83/83/40b with no other bus in place leaving all residents in the area in the cold. Brilliant work yet again Ireland. Backwards instead of forwards.
@James: Make sure you fill out the Survey! No point telling the Journal. Tell the NTA
Celbridge with a population of over 20,000 will be ill served by this ‘improvement’, the service is ropey enough at the best of times, maybe every 30mins, maybe not! And huge gaps between buses when you’re leaving town in the rush hour. Did the experts even go on any of the bus routes they are improving?
What is incredible is the level of complete arrogance in some people. OAPs will get used to it. There is no direct bus link between Swords and Beaumont Hospital. People take a bus to Santry then to the Hospital. People can not get to work because of the traffic. Early consultations cancelled because of bus situation. There is a nifty system leaves too late twice a day there and back. People with Cancer. People with Chronic Illnesses. Visitors. Now the new system proposes no buses in to the estates. You take a feeder bus to the main bus and on to Santry. Three buses to get to a hospital. Three buses back. Per day. 6 buses. If you are a student, or young enough not to care, ok. But what about your Mum or Grandmother? Taxi? You pay. Train? There is none. Lift? Most people are lucky to get visits from family never mind lifts around. A little bit of compassion never hurt anyone….
I’m only starting to look at the detail and I’m not impressed. It looks like someone is getting a huge ‘consultancy’ fee for re-arranging without improvement. The usual Irish non-solution and we have to pay for it. Just build a proper metro and stop this messing. We are the only city in the whole of Europe of our size without one. Take the A route. Why is it so short ending at Terenure. What purpose does that serve? It should go to Rathfarnham where it would connect with the old trans-city 75. So suddenly you have to get three buses if you’re going that way. Read all the above disasters. Some are self interest but most are legitimate regressive steps.
Okay, got it. No doubt Google Maps will start asking us if this or that bus stop has a shelter. Handy to know during snow.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: The plan dictates that where routes cross over, the stops should be as close to the intersection as posssible and ALL bus stops where you can interchnage will have shelters.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: It already does
@Kevin Carter: They have routes going through traffic blackspots that will not change. They have plans made that they do not have the land for. They are increasing the service by 27% with no extra staff or vehicles. What a plan!!!!!!!
How do you get from Larkfield Park to Rathmines,
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