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

As the Deputy will be aware, the decision to open hotels before restaurants was based on public health advice and was in line with the advice from NPHET. We are often criticised for not following that advice and this is one occasion on which we did so to the letter, except for the fact that hotels are opening a few days earlier than NPHET suggested. It is for a practical reason, not a scientific reason. I will be frank with the Deputy about that and I have been with the industry too.

We have never closed hotels' dining rooms. During level 5, when we were all locked down at home, hotels remained open for essential reasons, such as for people who had to stay there because they had nowhere else to stay, and we never closed their restaurants or dining rooms. If we were to close them now, we would be closing them for the first time. This was never a problem before. The problem now arises only because there is a disparity between the way we are treating hotel restaurants and other restaurants. If we were to turn around and close them now, however, it would not make sense. We would be saying that people can be served their meals in their rooms only. I hope and expect that the gap will be for only a couple of weeks.