Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said he thinks all pubs should be allowed to open for business and publicans can be trusted to follow Covid-19 public health guidance.
Mr Varadkar said he believed publicans will be able to manage their businesses in a way that would not put public health at risk.
The reopening date for pubs without a licence to serve food has been delayed a number of times – they are due to remain shut until September 13th at the earliest.
Speaking to Live 95, Leo Varadkar said publicans should be “given that chance” to reopen.
He said: “Wet pubs are open in every country in Europe now, albeit with restrictions, and we’ve also seen how restaurateurs and gastropubs have done a really good job.
“Pubs serving food and restaurants have been open for months now, there are very few examples of clusters of infections in restaurants or gastropubs,” he said.
“They’ve shown that they can actually follow the rules and regulations, albeit with a few notable exceptions, and likewise publicans should be given that chance as well.”
Public health regulations
Mr Varadkar's comments come as Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said that legislation to give the Garda greater powers to enforce public health regulations on pubs and restaurants amid the pandemic will help “bring us further on the road” to a more open society.
Smaller parties and Independents criticised the legislation as “draconian” given there are few offending businesses. But Ms McEntee insisted in the Dáil on Wednesday that the legislation would encourage “the small minority of licensed premises who are acting contrary to public health regulations to bring themselves into compliance”.
The Bill will give An Garda Síochána powers “to act swiftly to enforce the law” in this regard, where necessary, she said.
However, claims that the Government is planning to allow all pubs to reopen soon were dismissed by an Independent TD and publican.
Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae said the legislation being discussed in the Dáil is pointless without guidelines in place.
He said: “We do not have the rules or the regulations that will apply to the ‘wet pub’. And that’s why I’m not voting to give him, the Minister, the power … for rules and regulations that are not yet in place.”
