‘THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTE WAR AT BAR DOORS’ – PUBLICAN TDs DISMISS PLANS
PUB-OWNING politicians have hit out at social distancing plans for pubs – saying they will be ‘impossible’ to enforce and that punters will be up in arms if they are refused entry under new rules.
Many say the two-metre rule will prevent bars around the country from reopening.
Roscommon senator Terry Leyden, who runs a Dáil replica bar in Castlecoote, said trying to apply the two-metre rule in pubs is ‘a complete waste of time’.
And Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae, who owns a pub in his locale of Kilgarvan, said it could permanently remove the ‘heartbeat’ of rural Ireland.
Meanwhile, Cork TD Michael Collins, whose family own pubs, has warned social-distancing rules will spark ‘war at the door’ as punters are turned away. Under the Government’s revised roadmap, pubs serving food can reopen on June 29 while other pubs can reopen on July 20 – three weeks earlier than originally planned. Former Fianna Fáil TD, Senator Leyden, told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘No bar will be able to open, even Dubin bars won’t be able to.
‘It is impossible to comply with the two-metre rule.
‘If that rule continues, there is no way we can open. Under no circumstances. It would be a complete waste of time.’
Mr Leyden warned it won’t be easy for pubs to start serving food as a means to opening their doors on June 29, but said he doesn’t plan to reopen his bar until August 10. ‘We don’t serve food. We give out sandwiches and things like that,’ he said.
Senator Leyden said he would have to install an expensive kitchen at a cost of up to €300,000 to reopen any earlier.
‘You would also need a health board licence for that, and we don’t have that,’ he explained.
Mr Leyden said he is also worried that ‘forcing staff to wear face masks’ will be ‘very offputting for customers’.
Independent TD Danny Healy Rae said the two metre-rule will ‘definitely’ have to go down to one if pubs, the ‘heartbeat’ of rural Ireland, are to return.
‘In terms of the two-metre rule, we will definitely have to get it down to one,’ he said.
He said that his own village of Kilgarvan hasn’t been the same since the pubs closed.
‘The village isn’t the same with the couple of pubs closed. There are three pubs in our village and the place isn’t the same without them. ‘I’d like them to open up for other rural places too because pubs are the heartbeat of rural places. They are all that is left. I’d like to see them open, the sooner the better,’ he said.
Independent TD Michael Collins, whose two brothers own pubs and whose own daughter works in a bar, said: ‘It’s going to be impossible for a publican – unless they have some massive, massive set-up that you can have customers two metres apart.
‘The biggest worry for many publicans’ point of view, and I have spoken to many publicans, it must come down to a metre.
‘If it stays at two metres, you are going to have people at the door being told, “You can’t come in”, and they’ll say, “But look, my friend is in”. There is going to be absolute war at the door.’
Two of his brothers own two pubs in west Cork, one in Bantry called the Boston Bar, and another in Bandon called the Chaplin Bar.
‘The Boston Bar is doing food, so he may have the opportunity to open [early],’ he said.
‘But I think he would find it a struggle to survive under the two-metre rule.’
Mr Collins also has a daughter involved in the pub trade, who is out of work as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown.
‘I’m very worried for the pub sector going forward. There are 50,000 jobs in it,’ he said.
‘I have a daughter working in that sector myself and she’s out of work and will be until the doors reopen.’
‘It must come down to a metre’ ‘I’m very worried for the pub sector’