Reopening plan slammed

“If Father Ted ran a government, it would be this one.”

Those were the words of a frustrated and disappointed Damien Sreenan, General Manager of Sunbeam Bingo in Ballyvolane, who has described the Government’s latest plans for reopening indoor hospitality as an “absolute farce”.

Mr Sreenan told the Cork Independent he was gearing up for a 5 July reopening having spent thousands of euros on the popular bingo club as well has hiring new staff.

“We found it tough to get staff and I'm emailing people this morning saying 'sorry, we can't hire you',” he said.

Sunbeam Bingo relocated from Blackpool to Ballyvolane in 2019 and had only been trading for three months before having to close due to Covid-19.

Mr Sreenan called the Government’s proposal to limit indoor hospitality to vaccinated people a “plan to make a plan” and said he would not be taking part.

“We won't be taking part in this. It's invasive, it's intrusive and we can't police it. All of our staff are under 30 and unvaccinated.

“To have them being able to be indoors and working – it’s an absolute joke!” he said.

In the city centre, co-owner of Idaho Café Richard Jacob said the timing of Tuesday’s announcement has thrown every other business under the bus yet again.

Mr Jacob said Ireland should be following in the footsteps of other countries in Europe when it comes to tackling reopening.

“When you look at what other European countries are doing, focusing on ventilation or even antigen testing – NPHET just sneer at antigen testing and there’s no mention of ventilation whatsoever,” he said.

Addressing the nation on Tuesday afternoon, An Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD said NPHET had advised the Government that reopening indoor hospitality on 5 July would carry a real risk of greatly increasing the spread of the virus.

The previous evening, NPHET presented the Government with a number of “stark” warnings that predicted the possibility of hundreds of thousands of infections between July and September and 2,000 deaths.

The Taoiseach said the new delta variant is far more transmissible and that the country is now in a race between the new variant and the vaccines.

“The European Centre for Disease Control estimates that it is 55 per cent more so than the last variant that we had to contend with. the safest way to now proceed with a return to indoor hospitality is to limit access to those who have been fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 infection,” he said.

In a statement released shortly after the Taoiseach’s address, the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) emphatically rejected NPHET advice to Government that only the fully vaccinated should be admitted to indoor hospitality venues.

The VFI said the plan is unworkable and that it will only increase pressure on publicans and their staff.

Padraig Cribben, VFI Chief Executive said: “The way Government has dealt with pubs over the past 15 months is shocking. So many reopening dates postponed or delayed and now this unworkable plan that will create a two-tier society.”