Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I definitely do not think the solution to these problems is to close off public areas. I appreciate that the city council had to make the decision it made and I really sympathise with the residents. The Deputy can imagine what they have experienced. This was not just outdoor drinking; it was people urinating and defecating near their homes, and I do not think any of us can condone that. I remember that in my constituency what kept us sane during the pandemic was the Phoenix Park. I was there nearly every other day. There was a suggestion at one point that the park was getting too crowded and it might be a good idea to close it. The Deputy can be absolutely sure that the public representatives in my constituency responded to that very quickly and said the closure of our biggest park and the crowding of everyone into the small greens was not a solution. That was not going to work at all and, thankfully, the OPW took the decision not to close the park or to restrict numbers into it.

When we talk about an outdoor summer, it will not be outdoors only. Increasingly, as people get vaccinated, they can meet up indoors. I still expect we will have indoor dining in July. The Deputy is totally right about the toilets and bins, and that is the message we are putting across to local authorities.

Next week, we intend to have two memorandums from the Government. The first will be on the pathway forward regarding international travel, although the new Indian variants are now causing additional concern. Nonetheless, it will be a pathway towards the restoration of international travel over the next few months. The second memo is being brought to us by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, and is all about live events and a whole set of trial and pilot events in June and July - sporting, artistic, musical and cultural, outdoor and indoor - with limited capacity. We are making those plans and I think that will be good news to people who are dying to see a live event, as I know the Deputy is. I am too. It will be of some relief to people working in the sector who have been unable to work and to do their art, essentially, for nearly a year now.