DR TONY Holohan, the Chief Medical Officer, says there is no ‘realistic prospect’ of pubs re-opening next month.
The Vintners Federation of Ireland and the Licensed Vintners Association, who represent the majority of Ireland’s 7,000 pubs, presented a radical plan earlier this week, in which they proposed an earlier-than-scheduled reopening.
Bar owners wanted to convince health officials to allow them to get open in late June rather than the planned. The vintners’ plan would limit the number of people on the premises, ban live music, and make pubs table service only has now been proposed.
“I don’t see any realistic prospect of pubs in June,” Dr Holohan said on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning.
“So the pubs came to us in March and said ‘we understand your public health advice and we don’t think we can implement it in pubs.’ And that is the reason they were asked to close on that occasion.
“Other many parts of society and economy have been making a case that they should be in earlier phases.
“But what we now think is to happen is the economy and society in general is get on with the job of preparing to implement our advice in the settings that they operate in.
“So in restaurants or the hospitality sector as an example, how are they going to put in place the arrangements to protect their staff, to protect their clients and customers when the time is right for them to resume those activities.”
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