Sligo man new RAI President

Restrateur Anthony Gray was elected President of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, the representative body for restaurants, gastropubs and cafés in Ireland at its AGM and Conference yesterday.

Anthony believes it vital that the hospitality industry lobbies to keep the VAT at 9% and fight any further increases to local authority rates.

“We, as restaurateurs, just won’t survive otherwise,” he stated, adding, “We are brave and as a result of brave, wages get paid, families reared and main streets bustle.”

A Sligo native, Anthony opened two multi-award winning restaurants in quick succession: Trá Bán opened in 2009 in Strandhill and Eala Bhán opened in Sligo Town in 2011. He lives there with his wife Eilish and three children. His father, Joe Gray, ran a very successful butcher’s business in the heart of Sligo town for many years, curing his own hams and making his own sausages etc.