Mr. Padraig Cribben:

The question of 2 m versus 1 m distancing is about much more than pubs. One of the first interventions I saw on this issue was by the chief executive of the HSE regarding emergency departments in hospitals, which are probably the most critical area of all. Our intervention was quite simply to get some independent research done on what the effect of a 2 m versus 1 m distancing requirement would be on capacity in the business. It was purely on capacity and what it showed was that a 2 m distancing requirement would reduce standing capacity to 12.5% and seating capacity to 34%.

If it remained at 2 m in a pub where people stood rather than were seated, there would be 12.5% of the capacity, which is obviously not viable. At 1 m, that 12.5% would become 50%, while the 34% seated would become 65%. All we did was put that into the public domain. We carried out that research together with our colleagues at the Licensed Vintners Association in Dublin and put it into the public domain as something that was very relevant to the viability of a sector employing 50,000 people, with 7,000 small, family-run businesses with small turnovers. We thought that was a proper step to take in the context of the debate about Covid-19.