Taoiseach warns pubs to behave themselves
THE full reopening of all pubs may be delayed if restaurants and gastropubs continue to flout the Covid-19 rules, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has warned.
Scenes of throngs of punters revelling in the capital’s streets at the weekend ‘worried’ Mr Martin, who said that a Garda investigation found a number of venues breached public health advice.
A second wave of the coronavirus would be a ‘disaster’ for the country and the economy, but it would likely not result in another full lockdown but a more ‘nuanced’ one, the Taoiseach added.
Mr Martin told 96FM’s Opinion Line with PJ Coogan that a full reopening of all pubs later this month is not guaranteed.
‘The full opening was to take place on the July 20 but people do need to behave,’ he warned. ‘It could be delayed. We will get the advice of the public health officials but we are worried about it. Some of the scenes that were witnessed [over the weekend] are just very worrying because social distancing was not being complied with at all in a number of the inspections.’
Mr Martin warned that a second wave would dent the country’s finances further when there is already a deficit of €20billion anticipated. ‘The only way we can get the economy back is if we keep the community transmission of the virus down,’ he said. ‘We don’t need a second wave. The second wave, I think, would be a disaster for the economy and for the country in terms of finances. I mean, we’re heading for a deficit of €20billion and it could be higher.
‘It’s not a bottomless pit of funding that’s available for everything.’
A Garda report on the compliance of pubs and restaurants with the Covid-19 guidelines was discussed at Cabinet.
However, the Taoiseach said the majority of licensees were compliant.
Asked if the Government was concerned by the scenes of people ‘overdoing it’ at the weekend, he said: ‘We were. In fact, we will have a report from the gardaí at [last night’s] Cabinet meeting.
‘On Friday, we had asked the gardaí to commence Operation Navigation. It has to be said that in general the majority of licensees were compliant, but there were breaches of the regulations. That is a big worry. We can’t risk it.
‘In fairness, the majority were compliant. We don’t want to injure or undermine the majority because people have to survive and they have businesses and so on.’
The Justice Minister has also warned that the Government could be forced to reintroduce tougher restrictions on pubs if premises continue to breach health regulations. Helen McEntee said scenes of busy streets around Dublin city bars over the weekend were ‘disappointing’.
However, she said the vast majority of pubs and restaurants are complying with Covid-19 regulations.
Pubs that serve food have been allowed to reopen since last Monday, while premises that do not serve food can open again on July 20. Ms McEntee spoke out after images and videos emerged on social media showing groups of people drinking on the streets in Dublin areas such as Dame Lane.
The minister said her department will ‘continuously review’ powers given to the gardaí to deal with licensed premises.
‘I think, to date, the vast majority of citizens and businesses, whether it’s pubs or restaurants, have complied with regulations that were put in place – as well as measures to not just protect yourself, but obviously protect people coming into their premises,’ she said.
‘Of course, we’ve seen some scenes over the weekend that were disappointing. I would ask and I would urge everybody to comply with public health regulations because we have come so far, we have made such great progress.’
She added: ‘It’s an issue that will be kept under review.’
Ms McEntee made the comments following a meeting with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris at Slane Garda Station in Co. Meath yesterday, in which they discussed a variety of issues. Mr Harris said gardaí carried out 6,000 visits to licensed premises across the country over the weekend. He added that, while the vast majority were compliant, officers did find breaches of the Covid-19 health regulations as well as of the licensing laws in a ‘minority of cases’.
‘We also found a situation, which was highlighted in social media, on Dame Lane, where indeed that was a public order situation and was dealt with as such,’ he said.
‘If we see a situation, we have our powers to deal with that.’
‘In fairness, the majority were compliant’ ‘We have powers to deal with that’