Publicans say Government’s actions are demonising trade
ANGER is growing amongst ‘wet’ pubs which most likely will not be allowed to open for the festive season, while hotels have warned that they face a €270million loss in revenue this Christmas. The Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) says speculation that pubs will be permitted to open only if they have a chef and kitchen is further proof that the Government and its NPHET partners ‘will stop at nothing to grind our sector into the ground’. The VFI claims the Government’s actions are demonising a trade that is now fighting for its very survival. Pub owners have followed guidelines and restrictions, the VFI says – but the Government has hinted that so-called ‘wet’ pubs will not reopen, while pubs serving food must now implement extra health and safety regulations.
VFI chief executive Padraig Cribben said: ‘The facts are clear – pubs are safer than restaurants, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). The Government’s reopening guidelines recognise both pubs and restaurants as “controlled environments”, so there is no logic for allowing restaurants to open and refusing pubs the same right.
‘What does it say about Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s attitude to pubgoers that he’s happy to trust restaurant owners and their customers yet, for some inexplicable reason, doesn’t think publicans and their patrons are deserving of trust? This attitude to publicans and their customers is appalling and will lead to distress and unrest among our members.’
More than half the pubs in the country are ‘wet’ and 250 such premises in Dublin will have been kept shut by the Government for 260 consecutive days by December 1.
It comes as hotels and guesthouses across the country are facing a loss in revenue of up to €270million over Christmas due to restrictions.
Irish Hotels Federation chief executive Tim Fenn is urging the Government to take a more balanced approach. He said: ‘Public health is always the number-one priority, and this is reflected in the statistics from the HPSC, which show that hotels have been associated with very few clusters (less than 0.14%) since March.’