Publicans in Dublin ‘angry and frustrated’
THE manager of one of Dublin’s most popular pubs doesn’t have enough words to express his ‘upset, anger, frustration and disappointment’ that the city’s wet pubs will remain shut.
Daniel Smith, of Grogan’s on Dublin’s South William Street, said his 16 staff had undergone Covid training after the Government said pubs that do not serve food could reopen on September 21.
‘We were supposed to have a staff meeting about it today but I have cancelled it. There is no point in having a meeting now,’ he said.
Mr Smith said that wet pubs have had four promised reopening dates in three months and the Government has now lost all credibility with Dublin publicans. Pubs serving food were able to open nationwide at the end of June. Those that do not serve food will open on September 21 but Dublin bars are excluded from that plan.
‘The pubs closed of their own volition in March, before the Government
ordered them to, yet communication has been appalling the whole way through. We only discovered through the media, at 10pm on Monday, that we would not be reopening. It is devastating for all those pubs,’ he said.
Mr Smith said that Grogan’s is now considering serving food as a way to reopen ‘but the Government has said that more restrictions may be coming for Dublin. That may include shutting down pubs that serve food so we are going to wait a week’.
He said the shutting of wet pubs was a very artificial health measure. ‘A plate of chicken wings that costs €9 is not going to save you from coronavirus. What is going to save you is good Covid management from trained staff and that was what we were hoping to offer,’ he said. Grogan’s has been making those preparations since March but the industry has been treated ‘with nothing but contempt’ by the Government, he added.
Tomás Mulligan, a manager at
The Cobblestone bar in Smithfield, said he was willing to take any Government advice on reopening but he is frustrated with the lack of clarity.
‘Last March, we said pessimistically that we might not be able to reopen until Christmas but that hope is now being removed. We don’t want to open if there is a terrifying increase in coronavirus numbers in Dublin, but we are trying to survive at the moment,’ he said.
The Cobblestone is famous as a traditional music venue that attracts tourists and music lovers from around the world. ‘Probably the worst part is that we are so much more than a pub and the shutdown is having a terrible effect on the arts. In bad times art brings people together. We have sessions, we have music lessons, we have film crews coming to make films. When the pub is shut down, that tree is killed off at the root,’ Mr Mulligan said. The prevalence of the virus in the city – 95 cases per 100,000 people – is 50% higher than the next worst affected county. Both Mr Smith and Mr Mulligan queried why Dublin was neither at Level 2 not Level 3 under the new Living With Covid measuring system and said it was confusing pub owners.
The Licensed Vintners’ Association (LVA) accused the Government
of breaking its commitment to pubs that do not serve food.
Donall O’Keeffe, chief executive of the LVA, said: ‘One week ago, the Government had committed to not singling out the non-food pubs from other businesses, stating that if there were any regional restrictions it would affect other businesses and not solely pubs. Yet seven days later, the Government has ignored that commitment and has set out separate treatment for non-food pubs in Dublin who must remain closed despite the capital being kept at Level 2... The pubs who don’t serve food played no part in the rising level of infection in Dublin, yet pubs were the only businesses singled out in the guidance provided by Nphet last week.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said earlier on the advice for Dublin: ‘We’re all watching what’s going on in Dublin, the people of Dublin understand that the situation is escalating very, very quickly and people in Dublin, I think, welcome the public health doctors providing this advice.’
‘We’re trying to survive’ ‘Ignored a committment’