Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak about this very important topic this evening. For the record, I will be voting against this Bill because I can see that what is being put in front of us is not fair or clear. As of yet the Government has published no rules or guidelines for the opening of "wet pubs", as it is calling the ordinary pubs of rural Ireland. Some two thirds of the pubs in Kerry are still closed, although I am told that two thirds of the pubs in Dublin are open. It is very unfair. There are no clear rules or penalties. If the Government gets this Bill through it will victimise, penalise and criminalise good-living and hard-working publicans who have served our county and our country well since the beginning of the last century.

What has happened is very unfair. We were promised that the pubs would open on 20 July. Then we were promised that they would open on 10 August. They are still not open. Looking back, it is very clear that there was never any intention of allowing them to open because no rules or guidelines for the opening of wet pubs were issued, leaked or distributed in any way. I for one will not give power to a Minister who seems to be solely infatuated with Dublin and the east coast. I will not give him the power to do whatever he likes to these hard-working and good-living people. Gardaí have enough to do without making them go into the homes of honest people. That is totally and absolutely wrong. It is also totally and absolutely wrong of the Government to think we will vote for this Bill when we do not know what the rules and the penalties will be. It is very clear that the Government is being very vague and evasive about this.

Let us return to the publicans of Kerry. The virus is not spreading in the hills, glens and valleys of Kerry. Our number of cases is very low. The pubs that serve food have managed their premises very well, even though only half the pubs are open in places like Killarney. If the crowd could be spread around, there would be a smaller crowd everywhere. I do not know why the Minister cannot see the common sense in that. All of Europe, the North of Ireland and England are open but the honest and hard-working publicans of Ireland, especially rural Ireland, are not allowed to open yet. They are and always have been honest. They have dealt with every situation. Every other business is open. It is very hard for publicans to stomach the Government's insistence that rural pubs must remain closed.

I must raise another issue that is not connected to this at all. A week ago the Minister for Health said that school buses could only take 50% of the schoolchildren they serve. How is this being managed now? The Department of Education and Skills is not answering phone calls or emails requesting tickets. The Government is managing this by refusing to answer these questions - let students come to school by themselves. If that is the way the Government intends to manage school transport, it is a shame and a disgrace.

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