Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle agus leis an Aire. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil mé ag caint mar gheall ar an Stát go léir maidir leis an reachtaíocht seo ach ba mhaith liom cúpla focal a rá faoi mo Dháilcheantar féin chomh maith. We are dealing with the entire State here and I want to pick up on one or two aspects of what Deputy Kenny has said. It is good to see that the courts around the country have opened up in their own district court areas. I hope that this will continue and that we can learn from what has happened during the Covid-19 period to address the family law situation and perhaps to use Zoom for those kind of meetings so that we can get through the long lists that have developed over the past while.

I am somewhat concerned on some aspects of this legislation. Having spoken to some vintners over the past few weeks they seem to be in favour of it because they have been calling for measures to be put in place so the very small amount of rogue publicans or licence holders can be dealt with and that those who have been in a limbo-type situation, particularly since 10 August, can move forward and be taken out of limbo so their businesses can reopen.

In my county there are 6,000 jobs in the pub trade which is a very significant amount. Having spoken to some of them, while they are very concerned with the amendments to the wage subsidy scheme, I was reminded that not only do their pubs sometimes have mortgages but one man told me that there were three members of his family who all have mortgages. They are reliant on the business reopening. The longer this goes on without them being able to reopen there is a risk that their staff may not return and that some, particularly smaller pubs, will not reopen at all. Many pubs have been able to adapt to the situation that has prevailed over the last number of weeks by serving food where they may have never served food before. Other pubs, however, are not capable or not willing to reopen in situations where they have to charge a customer €9 plus the price of a pint. They accept there has been poor management by some licence holders but in the vast majority of them, and in some of the pubs in which I have been including the Bridge Bar in Portmagee and in Mike the Pie’s in Listowel, there is stringent adherence to all of the regulations such as contact-tracing regulations, hand sanitising etc. to the letter of the law. These businesses are already highly regulated. They are used to having a full knowledge of the legislation and to dealing with all of the regulations, even more so in this situation. They are subject to having their licences renewed every September where, if An Garda Síochána feels they are running an unruly house, can object. They are not going to be reckless in their behaviour and they have to get a date on the door. Hopefully this legislation will allow them to move forward.

As to some of the behaviour, mostly on the streets, there is already public order legislation in place. As to what happened in Killarney last weekend, public order legislation which is already in place can deal with such happenings on the street. Section 8 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act is probably the widest power that a garda has, which is similar to the legislation before us, where a warning is given to people who are loitering on the street to move on. That legislation is there and the vast majority of publicans who are doing their best having reopened are being unfairly targeted by something which is really a public order incident. This refers tangentially to a situation in Killarney in the 12 months coming up to Covid-19, which is to ensure more gardaí are made available for the very busy Saturday nights in Killarney. People are coming on buses from all over west Limerick, west and north Cork and County Kerry, in their hundreds into the town to enjoy what Killarney has to offer. If there is another incident like last Saturday night where Garda resources were being stretched, I ask the Minister to address this by giving the Garda more resources so that people can continue to enjoy what Killarney has to offer.

There must also be consistency in the messaging coming from the Government. In dealing with Covid-19 there seems to be significant inconsistency. It seems ridiculous to me that 500 people can attend a football match in Aughnacloy or in Crossmaglen whereas in the upcoming Kerry county championship semi-finals, not even family members will be able attend the game which will have players from my own club, St. Brendan’s. I echo the comments of the GAA president and ask NPHET to reveal the 50 odd cases that are related to sporting events. We need more clarity on where and how these figures were obtained. Vagueness is not helping anybody in this situation. Can the Minister through this legislation provide a date on the door for these publicans? We are going to be living with this virus for a long time to come we will have to work and be innovative around it. Publicans are ready, willing and able to do that so that we can open up the country and work towards that.

See this speech in context