Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the outset, I congratulate the new Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue. I also congratulate my party colleague, Deputy James Browne, on his promotion to the role of Minister of State in the Department of Justice and Equality.

I wish to pick up from where the previous speaker left off and refer, very briefly, to "golfgate", which was wrong a million times over. There can be no justification for what happened in Clifden. The work of Government and Opposition and every Member of this House must continue in earnest because we are in for a rough season ahead, possibly on the weather front, as the past 24 hours would indicate, but certainly on the Covid front. There needs to be full unity of purpose as we try to tackle the virus and the economic fallout that comes with it. On the issue of "golfgate", the public expects leadership. If this House is going to dish out public guidance and formulate laws to ensure that the public can meet the challenges of Covid, then Members of this House should be showing leadership on all fronts and following the rules that we expect the public to follow.

I fully support the Bill before us. It empowers An Garda Síochána to deal with those rogue publicans who have put a few dirty receipts on bar tops or who have flouted the laws and the guidance in recent weeks. Everyone here wants to see the pubs open and we all want to see the public health guidance followed. We are all supportive of those who have followed the guidance in recent weeks, in some instances to their detriment. This Bill should be viewed in terms of a carrot-and-stick approach. It is a stick to beat those who flout the regulations, including the likes of the Berlin bar in Temple Bar. It is also a carrot which will allow those who want to be compliant to reopen their bars and get back to operations very quickly.

In the past 48 hours I saw a video on TikTok of a group of teenagers who held a Covid party. They were placing bets on who would be the first to contract the virus, which is absolutely reprehensible. It is almost treasonous against the State in this time of need that people would engage in such behaviour, especially given that the fatality rate for those who contract Covid in this country is 6.2%. Their actions in trying to draw the coronavirus on themselves and pass it on to others bring them only a step or two away from being guilty of manslaughter.

It is quite unfair that the small, so-called wet pubs have been put in the same bracket as casinos and nightclubs. In my local pub there are a few old-timers and a few young people who go there at the weekends to have a pint and a catch-up. It is the rural model of pub and indeed an urban model which can be seen in towns like Ennis and Shannon. Such pubs are hungry and, pardon the pun, thirsty to reopen but they are certainly not comparable to casinos or bustling nightclubs or cattle mart-style social gatherings. In Clare there are 392 pubs, 190 of which can be categorised as wet pubs. Approximately 2,300 people are employed in the pub sector. As a rule of thumb, two thirds of the pubs outside Dublin do not serve food. While it may not have been the intention, the rules that have been in place heretofore have favoured the urban over the rural model of pub. Currently, Ireland is the only country in the EU that still has its pubs closed. We also need to consider the issue of leased pubs, of which there are approximately 700 nationally. The publicans in such pubs are continuing to pay rent to their landlords even though they cannot open their premises. They are trying to cover temporary wage subsidy scheme payments, pay insurance and meet their overheads. While it is a debate for another day, many of these publicans have not been able claw back from their insurers any of the money they have laid out in rent.

In preparing to speak in the Chamber today, I looked at the situation in a few other countries. I hope they will not mind me calling them fellow drinking countries, that is, countries in the European Union whose citizens enjoy a tipple as much as Irish people. I have looked at how these countries reopened and managed their pub scene. In Belgium the pubs were reopened on 8 June. Previously, there was no closing time in Belgium and pubs were 24-7 operations. They now close by 1 a.m. and very strict guidance has been issued to bar owners. Customers are also under obligation to be compliant with the law. Our closest neighbours in the UK reopened their pubs on 4 July.

Strict social distancing applies. There is increased testing and temperature checks, etc., as people walk through the doors of pubs there. In Germany they reopened pubs on 2 June with no standing whatsoever allowed. People must be seated and seating must be 1.5 m apart. They do not have a limit on opening hours. In France they reopened pubs on 11 June. There are strict hygiene rules. People must wear masks. They operate table service and there is 1 m between tables there.

Our rural and small pubs should not be the fall guys in all this. It infuriates and seriously upsets those involved that, at a time when they are trying to support families and keep workers on the payroll, they continue to remain closed.

I heard before this debate began that the Minister reckons new guidance will be issued on Sunday, 13 September. We need to get our pubs reopened. For now, this legislation that the Minister is bringing forward deserves the full support of the House. We need to empower gardaí so that over the autumn and winter months they are able to go into pubs which are flouting current and future guidance issued from the Government. If they continue to flout it, the stick needs to be waved.

We want to create a scenario where it is safe, healthy and feasible for pubs to reopen. They are the lifeblood of our economy in many small rural villages. They are places of social gathering. From the wedding to the funeral, the pub is a place where people get together. I hope the Department of Justice and Equality will do everything possible to expedite efforts to get these pubs reopened.

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