Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have to agree. I never thought the day would come when parents would come to my clinic to complain that there was nowhere for their youngsters to go at Christmas but, this Christmas, that actually happened. I will use Bailieborough as an example again. We have three pubs and a hotel but, since the Covid pandemic, the nightclub or disco at night has been cut. This St. Stephen's Day, for the first time ever, young people were out on the streets at 11.45 p.m. with nowhere to go. Their parents are really concerned. We have to look at that very honestly. Our young people have missed out on two or three years of their social life because of Covid and everything else and they are continuing to miss out because places have not reopened. Some places may never do so. This is really important. There is an opportunity here. It is a meeting of minds. I equally do not want to see the rural pub undermined in any way. I believe we can do both.