‘Death knell’ for pubs

Furious Cork publicans will meet today, Thursday, following Tuesday’s announcement by the Taoiseach that pubs are to remain closed for at least another three weeks.

The announcement came just six days before publicans expected to finally open their doors after five months of forced closure.

The controversial decision comes in response to a spike in new Covid-19 cases in the country with Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly noting 120 new cases two weeks ago, and 284 new cases last week.

Speaking to the Cork Independent, Cork City Chairperson of Vintners Federation Ireland (VFI), Michael O’Donovan of the Castle Inn, described the news as a “hammer blow” to the pubs trade.

He said: “There is an awful lot of anger out there. We were told that most of the new cases were clusters and that the Government knew where they were, so we firmly expected to open our doors next Monday.”

However, Mr O’Donovan said that the most concerning aspect of Tuesday’s announcement was that there were no guarantees that pubs would open at all this year.

“To be moved three weeks is a huge blow, but to hear the Taoiseach's comments is an absolute nightmare. It very possibly is the death knell for a lot of our colleagues in the industry,” he said.

Mr O’Donovan also said that many elderly publicans have been completely forgotten about as anyone over 66 years old does not qualify for the pandemic payment.

“So, they're trying to survive on their old age pension, when they still have all the same outgoings. There are still a lot of costs involved even though we're closed,” he said.

On Tuesday evening An Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that the country will not proceed to stage four of the reopening plan, with a review of the measures promised in three weeks.

Mr Martin said the evidence of increased transmission of Covid-19 is “even more clear”, and that he was not in a position to give better news.

An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar added that the decision will come as a "blow" to businesses but reassured that grants will be in place when the time comes to reopen.

Meanwhile, publicans are still waiting for a final draft of the guidelines needed for reopening and are currently going on guidelines issued originally for pubs acting as restaurants.

Mr O’Donovan added: “We got a draft of the guidelines, but we still haven't received the finalised versions. When will they come? We don't know.”