G'Day From Downunder

Get the champers out we have things to talk about.

Not since the success of Father Ted, has Australia had a good dose of Irish humor.

Well all that is in the past now, as Brendan O'Carroll has introduced the hilarious Mrs Brown's Boy's to our living room TV screens.

Australians are gob struck with this brilliant quirky series of outrageous humour.

Agnes Brown is a mother who is constantly meddling in the lives of her six adult children, domineering but loveable.

I must admit I was a bit worried as to how the Aussies might accept the colourful language but they like we Irish, are a bit irreverent and fell in love with Mrs Brown and her oddball family.

I was lucky enough to have received a gift of the first season series from a friend of mine in Tralee, which is now one of my prized treasures.

I suppose when you think of it, we all have our own oddball families back in the old sod and that is why we relate so easy to Mrs Brown's brood.

Don't think for a moment the Aussies are any different, as most are as odd as two left feet when it comes to a bit of humor.

There's no doubting Australians will be seeing a lot more of Brendan O'Carroll's series for a long time more to come and that is a huge plus for us Irish as we rarely get so see Irish TV programs here in Aussie land.

If you haven't seen the outrageous Mrs Brown's Boys be sure to put it on your bucket list for if you don't, St Peter won't let you through the Pearly Gates.

I bet you St Peter has a copy of Mrs Brown's Boys, that's why they're all smiling in heaven.

I read an article recently that threw light on a subject that has been concerning me for some time now.

I just could not get my mind around this problem of the dwindling number of pubs in Ireland.

Their numbers have dropped from 7,000 ten years ago to 4,000 now and what does that say if the trend continues.

Here is my understanding of the situation: The Pub as we knew it in Ireland is in danger of going extinct.

No, I'm not being an alarmist. The Irish Pub is as synonymous with Ireland as St Patrick, Guinness, The Harp, Shamrock and all the other iconic names and brands that the world recognizes us for, fact whether we like or not.

Remember the days when we held our family functions in the Pub?

We celebrated birthdays, christenings, mournings and let's not forget the wonderful sing song nights in our locals back in the late sixties and early seventies.

Sadly that's no longer the normal thing those days partly due to the off licence; there's no need to go to the Pub now with cheep booze just at the ready.

Tourists come to Ireland to enjoy what we have had for years and taken for granted.

They come in their droves to enjoy sitting by a cosy fire in a pub and listening to music, songs that tell stories of our history and struggles that go back to our ancestors.

Tourists want to meet the locals and hear stories. Many years ago, well before that rotten antisocial device called TV was invented, our fathers and grandfathers and their grandfathers went to the pub to meet and socialize, tell stories and get the latest news. Nowadays it's called interaction.

If the trend in Ireland continues, with off licences and young people's drinking habits, be warned that disaster looms.

The tourism and Pub industries will diminish dramatically if action isn't taken now to preserve that wonderful quant Pub, music and song culture.

Tourism and the Pub will just be words instead of industries.

If the off licence outlets are allowed to flourish and continue to sell cheap booze, it will encourage excessive drinking in the home where there may be no supervision unlike that at the Pub where the bar person will stop serving you if you get incoherent.

The off licence system will also encourage the young to drink more on the streets where some will opt for getting off their faces in back alleys that will then create more violence and more chaos and it doesn't take a lot to figure out where that leads to.

Furthermore with all that cheap alcohol there will be less locals going to the Pub to socialize and having a good time

I get it now, if cheap alcohol is going to be available via off licences and supermarkets many fewer people will go to the Pub and if fewer go to the Pub, in the future there won't be anyone there to sing the songs and tell the stories to the tourists.

So where does that then lead us? No one in the Pub to entertain the tourist, no tourist, and that leads to no more Pubs and sadly, Ireland will have lost one of the main reasons why people come to visit.

Let me say it one more time, they come to sit by a cosy fire, listed to the music and here the locals tell stories. Simple really isn't it? It's not rocket science really is it?

Short-term view: cheap booze; whoopee! Long-term view: Tourist industry chopped off at the knees and the pub industry a name of the past.

Dare I remind you of the GFC crisis when no one would listen then.

Don't wait till it's too late. There's no point in crying over spilt milk.

This is not a quote I took from a book but something I have been practising for thirty years: it's much better to be wise in foresight, than in hindsight.

Please don't take this out of context, I am not trying to promote the Pub per se, I'm just trying to preserve a part of Ireland's culture that has excisted for a long time and also trying to save part of the Irish tourist industry.

Hi Enda, I'm still waiting for your call: When Enda Kenny was elected I was in Ireland at the time and wrote to him twice, outlining my expectations of him and his government.

I also asked him to spare me a few minutes of his time so I could put some questions to him on your behalf.

He is obviously a man of enormous higher intelligence much more than you or me.

He knows everything and is not interested in either yours or my opinion.

Fact, neither he nor any of his staff had the courtesy to reply to my request to date.

I bet my arse when it comes to election time he will be doing the rounds telling us how important we all are and how he will be listening to our concerns and requests.

When that times comes Enda, please do not call me as I will be doing what you do when called upon, I'm too busy to be interrupted.

Funny how they always find time to p*** in our pockets when they want a vote and are then too busy when requested to do anything after being elected.

So until I talk to you again be good to those who love you and Slainte from Downunder.

You can catch me on mbowen@afsvic.com.au. Go on Enda make my day, I dare you to drop me a line.