CABINET WILL DEFY HOLOHAN ON CHRISTMAS
Pub meetings better than ‘big, mad house parties’, say ministers
THE Coalition will defy NPHET and press ahead with plans to reopen gastropubs and restaurants in the lead-up to Christmas.
A row has erupted after health chiefs said they should remain closed, and the number of people allowed visit each other over Christmas should be limited to just six.
NPHET advisers, led by Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan, are said to have warned: Either reopen hospitality or allow household visits, but not both.
However, the Government plans to allow customers be served indoors.
Cabinet sources said, they’re ‘controlled environments’ and better than encouraging ‘big, mad house parties’.
As revealed by the Irish Daily Mail two weeks ago, the Government plans to
move the entire country from Level 5 to Level 3 of Covid-19 restrictions starting on December 2, next Wednesday.
Retail, hairdressers, barbers, gyms, leisure centres and golf courses will be allowed open, and the Government may tweak the Level 3 restrictions to allow l i mited numbers of people meet in households. Travel within counties will also be permitted.
Then from Monday, December 7, pubs that serve food and restaurants can open. It is understood that NPHET is opposed to this and wanted it limited to takeaway services only – and even if a reopening was to happen, NPHET believes it should begin later in December.
However, from Monday, December 21, the entire country will move into a version of Level 2 restrictions, which will allow two or three households to visit another household, and permit travel between counties. This will allow families and close friends to enjoy Christmas together.
‘There will be a three-stage loosening of restrictions,’ said a Government source.
A Covid-19 Cabinet subcommittee meeting was held in Government Buildings last night, attended by the Taoiseach, ministers and senior NPHET officials. Government sources were anxious to play down claims of a row last night.
‘NPHET are always ultra cautious,’ said a minister familiar with the proceedings of the subcommittee, ‘if they had their way everyone would just stay at home, and they’re pretty clear about it. But they have been fairly clear in public that they are not happy with the rate the figures have fallen at during Level 5, and the plateauing has been worrying.’
A letter of recommendations from NPHET to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is understood to have only recommended a move from Level 5 to an enhanced Level 3 on December 2, and there was an agreement, in the words of a Government source, to talk through the ‘finer details’ at last night’s meeting.
The final decisions will, however, be made at today’s Cabinet meeting and Taoiseach Micheál Martin is likely to make the announcements tonight. A minister said last night: ‘The essential message I got from this was that the public health doctors felt we could have
Maximum of six people
household visits or reopened hospitality but not both. But many of us feel that pubs and restaurants are actually controlled environments and it might be easier to contain things in them rather than having big, mad parties in houses.’
Ministers and TDs have built up public belief that restaurants and pubs could open as early as next week, yet sources familiar with the discussions at meetings yesterday said NPHET was against prolonged openings of hospitality.
It advised the Government to move from Level 5 to an ‘enhanced Level 3’ from December 2 to January 27, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal. NPHET wants restrictions to be further eased from December 21 to January 2 to allow people travel between counties and allow more than one household visit another households.
Under Level 3 bars and restaurants can serve only 15 people outdoors and sell takeaways and NPHET does not believe there should be any significant change to this from December 2. The news comes as Ireland recorded another 335 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday and three deaths.
The NPHET letter also advises that two households could meet up from next week. However, this would be extended to three – with a maximun of six people – over Christmas week, when travel restrictions could also be eased.
WHO chief Dr Mike Ryan warned yesterday that Christmas will have to be celebrated differently this year and that we should even consider wearing masks indoors over the festive season.
The Irish chief at the World Health Organisation said that we could enjoy a safe Christmas if we wore masks indoors, limited the number of people in the kitchen and went for walks, instead of gathering around the television.
‘The usual thing in Ireland of 15 people in the kitchen peeling potatoes and basting turkeys, that’s not what we should be doing,’ he told RTÉ news.
He was speaking prior to a virtual ceremony, where he will receive The Bar of Ireland Human Rights Award for 2020.
He said: ‘In reality if you have a highly vulnerable person in the house and you are coming from a place where you think you might be exposed, there are other o pt i o ns . Wearing a mask yourself.
‘If you believe you are not infected but could be a risk to your parent or your brother or sister who has a physical disability or an underlying condition, then maybe you should wear the mask.’ The WHO executive director, who is leading the WHO response to the Covid-19 pandemic globally, said that the Government had a tough decision to make, saying the Covid numbers would i nevitably surge once restrictions are eased.
He said: ‘When people start to mix again, the disease numbers may start to rise.’
Dr Ryan said it was important that older people or people with underlying conditions are aware of the risks and know how to reduce their own risks and their own exposure to others.
Wear mask indoors for Christmas