Dr. Ronan Glynn:

This answer definitely will not be satisfactory. At the end of this month we would hope to look again at the data to see how we have gotten through April and will set out a plan for May, June and July. As part of that we will give consideration to the whole area of hospitality.

In terms of pubs versus gastropubs, NPHET never said one word about a €9 meal but we do have a concern about alcohol in the context of a global pandemic. Again, I know that I will be painted in the wrong way because of this. One cannot get away from the fact that when we have a drink or a few drinks we let our guard down. We drop our guard and are less likely to social distance. We are less likely to ensure that we follow all of the measures that we should. Many of these establishments are poorly ventilated. It involves the mixing of many multiple households. Whether we like it or not we saw the effect of that at various times last summer and over the Christmas period.

Unfortunately, and this is not a message anybody wishes to hear, these are high-risk environments in relative terms. We have to put that in context when we weigh up the risk of further waves, further outbreaks and the risk of super-spreading events versus the need to keep children in school, the need to get the hospital services up and running and the need to protect the most vulnerable until they are vaccinated. I understand that it is not an easy message. We all want to go to the pub, but we are not there yet.