‘GIVE THE DAIL BAR A BREAK ON €9 MEAL’
Oireachtas staff member sought an exemption but idea was dismissed over fears of a backlash
AN Oireachtas staff member lobbied to have the Dáil bar serve drinks to TDs and senators without a substantial €9 meal. As more than 3,500 ‘wet pubs’ have remained closed since March because they cannot serve food, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal the bid to have the rules relaxed for our senior politicians.
The revelations come amid seething anger over Golfgate, after which a Cabinet minister and EU commissioner resigned their posts for being at an event in breach of Covid-19 rules.
Documents obtained by the Mail,
under the Freedom of Information Act, detail the correspondence surrounding the reopening of the Members’ Bar, which can only be used by TDs and senators, inside Leinster House.
In an email to the Dáil Bar Manager, on June 19, one staff member involved with reopening the bar argued that the €9 meal should be removed, as politicians might want a snack and not a full meal.
‘I think the €9 demand should not be included, instead, all members must dine to avail of the bar facilities as I feel, on a long sitting day, they may just want a sandwich and coffee for lunch and dinner in the evening,’ they wrote.
An hour later a more senior official, with more than ten years experience working in the Oireachtas, stated that they could not be seen to flout a Government law.
‘Confused a bit here. Isn’t the €9 minimum cost (it’s not our demand, its mandated by Government!) a condition on pubs being allowed to open early? If a member just wants a sandwich and a coffee, then technically he can’t eat that in the bar (unless it costs €9 and is substantial)?’, she said.
The menu inside the Members’ Bar changes daily: yesterday it included lamb koftas, served with savoury rice and sundried tomato sauce, as well as roast crown of turkey croquettes, served with gravy. The official warned of the ‘optics’ if the Dáil Bar was allowed to reopen simply selling sandwiches, while many country pubs had to remain closed.
She added: ‘We need to be careful here, there is bound to be a number of small pubs around the country who could well offer a sandwich to customers but cannot open as they are not in a position to offer a substantial meal. The optics would be bad if it ever got out that we were permitting members to flout the law and have a sandwich in the bar. We need to be above reproach and transparent as possible.’
A spokeswoman for the Oireachtas said the correspondence did not amount to the official seeking an exemption for the Members’ Bar.
‘The records you refer to do not show that an Oireachtas official sought to have an exemption from the €9 substantial meal and could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be deemed to be such. What you got was an email discussion thread around the preparation of what should and should not be in the protocol in order to ensure that the bar, when reopened, would operate in accordance with all regulations,’ she said.
Pubs that cannot provide a substantial meal and adequate social distancing have been closed since March.
The other bar in Leinster House, the Visitors’ Bar, which is open to anyone on the complex, remains closed as it ‘not in a position to serve substantial meals’. Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl had tried to intervene in relation to the bar opening and wrote to the Dáil Clerk, Peter Finnegan, seeking to have wider access to the facilities.
On July 1, Mr Finnegan wrote to the officials tasked with reopening the bars, stating: ‘In relation to the Visitors Bar, which I believe is due to open next week, the Ceann Comhairle is of the opinion that it should be accessible by everyone.
‘This is obviously a change from the original plan, which was to
‘We need to be careful here’
confine access to members. I’d appreciate if you could ensure the wider access arrangements are put in place,’ Mr Finnegan wrote.
The issue of ‘last orders’ was also discussed, with some officials querying if the proposed time of 8pm on a Thursday, unless the House was sitting, was too late. Traditionally, the Dáil bars remain open as long as the House is in session, which can, on occasion, be late into the night. Air conditioning in the bar was also highlighted as an issue, with checks needed to ensure it is adequately functioning due to the ‘lack of windows/natural ventilation’ in the Members’ Bar.
In advance of the reopening, a representative from public safety consultancy firm Eamon O’Boyle & Associates was sought to ‘provide an independent assurance that we are compliant with the reopening guidelines’.
The Oireachtas did not reply to a request from this newspaper as to what advice or assurances about the Members’ Bar they received.
Dáil civil servants at the golf dinner
Another staff member, frustrated by the reopening process, joked ‘[we] might be better to wait for a vaccine before reopening bars’.
There was widespread outrage last month over the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner with more than 80 guests. Two senior Oireachtas civil servants, John Flaherty and Cait Hayes, were also in attendance at the Clifden dinner. Mr Flaherty, the Captain of the Guard in Leinster House, has responsibility for the day-to-day management of the staff in the Oireachtas.