"Ironically, Ireland is one of the most difficult places in Europe to open a new Irish pub," said Isolde Goggins, the authority's director of regulated markets.
A revision of the law last year aimed to correct the imbalance by allowing the transfer of a pub licence from one part of the country to another.
But this has given rise to a new phenomenon of investors buying up and closing down sleepy country pubs, and moving the licences to a city peopled with young urban professionals.
In the small community of Castlegrace, south Tipperary, residents fought unsuccessfully to keep their last pub -- the Crossbar -- from being closed and its licence carted away.
They went on national radio to plead their case but the pub that 76-year-old Patrick Coffey frequented for years is now closed and shuttered.
"You wouldn't even look in there anymore," Coffey said, noting sadly that the nearest pub is now 6km away.
The competition authority says the "one-for-one" swap of rural for urban pub licences has done little to open up the market and the system needs a complete overhaul.
But publicans are totally opposed, saying deregulation could open the door to international pub chains and drive local owners out of business.
"We already have probably too many licences and certainly the last thing we need is more," said Tadg O'Sullivan, head of the Vinters' Federation of Ireland.
Meanwhile, bucking the trend towards super-pubs and theme bars, John Mulligan's pulls in crowds, though co-owner Gary Cusack professes to being a bit baffled by its appeal.
"I find it strange -- people coming in here when there's nothing," he said. "But we've got a good pint of Guinness, the staff behind the bar and there's no loud music. A lot of people like that. They want to come in and talk."
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