Covid used for ‘prohibition by stealth’
Varadkar now said to be worrying about fate of rural pubs
SUSPICION is growing among many politicians that the Department of Health is trying to impose ‘prohibition by stealth’ across rural Ireland.
And despite claims by the Government that pubs that do not serve food will be reopened by the middle of this month, the latest debacle over till receipts has collapsed confidence in the bona-fides of the Department of Health and the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).
One Minister noted: ‘Increasingly, the Department and health experts do not appear to us to be acting as honest brokers.’
This view has also been adopted by the high-profile chairman of the Covid-19 Committee, Independent TD Michael McNamara.
Mr McNamara, who declines to use the phrase ‘wet pub’, told the Irish Mail on Sunday the attitude of the Department now appeared to be that: ‘every pint comes accompanied by coronavirus’.
He also slammed the absence of
‘Overseeing extinction of the rural pub’
scientific rigour, noting: ‘So far the experts have only produced media clippings, like something you would get in the Junior Certificate.’
There has, he said, ‘been a complete absence of evidence-based decision-making on the issue of public houses. Our pubs are surely not so different to the rest of Europe.’
The positioning of health experts has irritated Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, with senior FG figures noting: ‘Leo is starting to resemble a member of the opposition when it comes to pub opening. He is starting to look closer to Danny Healy-Rae than Stephen Donnelly.’
One senior FF figure said: ‘The Government is overseeing the extinction of the rural pub by stealth Like the Famine, it is “laissez faire laissez passer” all over again.’
Politicians from both FF and FG expressed the belief that the Department of Health and NPHET are not acting as honest brokers.
One FF Minister noted: ‘From the moment the smoking ban was imposed the national priority was the erasure of alcohol from national life.’ They added: ‘For a key group of leaders in there the smoking ban is unfinished business. They have been preparing a fatwa on alcohol since smoking.’
Their concerns were amplified by Mr McNamara, who warned that the spectacle resembled ‘a morality crusade’.
He added: ‘It is legitimate to ask questions of ridiculous ideas such as will we have live music concerts so long as there is no alcohol. This is not logical.’
Another TD noted: ‘This is worse than the age of (Shane) Ross. The rural pub is starting to turn into the Irish equivalent of the Welsh coal mines, where a few will be kept open for the tourists.’
One high-profile Fianna Fail figure noted: ‘Varadkar is the only defender of the pub now, God help us.’