Gardaí get power to shut pubs
THE Dáil last night passed legislation to give gardaí new powers to close pubs in breach of public health guidelines.
Gardaí will be able to inspect pubs and close them down temporarily if they are not compliant with the Covid-19 regulations. The powers are seen as the first step towards the reopening of ‘wet pubs’. More than 3,500 pubs that don’t or can’t serve food have been closed since March, with representative bodies saying a high percentage will not be in a position to open again.
Sinn Féin justice spokesman Martin Kenny said a situation whereby pubs that serve food could open and those that didn’t couldn’t should never have happened. ‘The Government has messed this up back a couple of months ago when they allowed some pubs to open because they serve food and others not,’ he said.
Sinn Féin supported the legislation, which passed by 126 votes to 12. Solidarity-People Before Profit and a number of Independent TDs opposed the Bill. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he would ‘love to see’ pubs reopened but reiterated that public health advice must also be followed.
Mr Martin told reporters yesterday that plans to reopen ‘wet pubs’ would be unveiled ‘soon’ and that a new roadmap providing a timeline for reopening would be released on September 14. Pubs will also be provided with guidelines for reopening ‘soon’, he said.
A group of five protesting publicans who travelled to Dublin from Monaghan carrying a sign that re ad, ‘Playing a blinder? Pubs are open in the rest of Europe. Why not here?’ received a private meeting with the Taoiseach when they turned up at a press launch he was attending.
Mr Martin invited the men into Fire restaurant, where the launch of the Stay and Spend scheme was being held, to listen to their concerns.
Speaking after the meeting, one of the publicans, Brian Renaghan, from Clontibret Co. Monaghan, said: ‘We’ve been forced into doing this [protesting]. We explained all the difficulties that we had and he listened to us, he engaged with us, and he knows now under no uncertain terms what we need and where we are.’