Our nod-and-a-wink culture is delaying pubs’ reopening

SO, THIS is what it’s come down to – a national nervous breakdown over the simple demand that restaurants and pubs must hold on to receipts, which they should be doing anyway, for the meals they serve to customers in order to prove that things are above board.

After all those Covid deaths, unspeakable personal traumas and rivers of tears, after all that panic and waste of hundreds of millions of public money by an out-of-control HSE, after the multiple horror of nearly a thousand lives lost in nursing homes that had been left to their own devices, can it really be the case that meaningless twitterings and utterly ridiculous nonsense from the likes of Young Dev Éamon Ó Cuív, Marc MacSharry and poor Mattie McGrath are going to put the kibosh on what is a perfectly reasonable requirement?

The political establishment, the gardaí, restaurateurs, publicans that serve food, hoteliers and most of us have been engaged in a massive nod and wink, collective deception since the hospitality sector – with the exception of so-called wet pubs – was allowed to reopen at the end of June, after the March lockdown.

AS PART of that lifting of restrictions, restaurants and pubs could only serve alcohol if it came with a ‘substantial meal’ costing at least €9. But, let’s be honest – with ourselves at least – we’ve known all along that while many establishments have been complying with that rule, many others – particularly pubs where previously you’d be lucky to to get an ill-prepared, thrown-together hang sandwich – have been taking the mick.

Publicans who couldn’t tell the difference between an anchovy and a slice of pepperoni were now launching their own pizza range, supplied from ‘across the road’. They were the ones who, at least, made some effort.

Others simply ploughed on – lamped out the pints and put all that food malarkey on the back burner. No questions, no pretence.

In one case to my certain knowledge, when gardaí arrived into a pub heaving with about 80 or 90 people, they were told: that crowd over there are about to order; those have already had a meal; and that group in the corner are leaving after they finish off those pints.

There wasn’t a single crumb of food to be seen between the whole lot of them, then or ever.

The gardaí stood there helpless in the middle of this throng and after a few seconds they turned on their heels and left, squeezing through newly arriving customers aboutto play their part in this absurd fiction.

And, as for social distancing? Ah, will ya stop. The gardaí have been placed in an impossible position trying to police the ‘substantial meal’ requirement, in the absence of any demand on operators to show compliance.

MARC MacSharry branded the requirement for the retention of receipts for food dished up to cusomers as a Stasi move – a reference to the infamous, terrorist, secret police of the former Communist East Germany.

Utter rubbish. More hyperbollix than hyperbolic.

We all know what’s been happening here, and why this reasonable requirement for receipts to be made available to gardaí if required is generating such a hissy fit.

Publicans have been misbehaving on a pretty grand scale, some more outrageous than others.

These three amigos, Ó Cuív, MacSharry and McGrath, should have the political awareness to realise that rules which ensure compliance with public health policies, at a time of a profoundly dangerous and economically disastrous health crisis, provide the best and most secure pathway for a full, safe and early reopening of the economy.

And this includes ‘wet pubs’ in every town and village throughout the country.

Only when that happens can we begin to address the gaping deficit that has now opened up in our public finances.

This week confirmed that the gap in State spending had rocketed to €9.5bn, compared to a mere €625m this time last year.

And it will worsen to about €30bn when all the sums are done at the end of December.

Wonder what Ó Cuív, MacSharry and McGrath would have to say about that…?