Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Following on from Deputy Naughten, the first point I will make is that the Bill is being introduced on the basis that the country needs it and everyone in this country is at risk. The measures are severe, but I accept the view that the Garda needs to have this power to enforce the law to protect us all. I have spoken to some of the gardaí about how they have been handicapped in their work to date and I welcome that this legislation is being brought in to protect our children, our elderly and ourselves.

Most important, we need to address the fact that this legislation needs to have an end date or sunset clause. We need to make sure that the legislation is reviewed within this House on an ongoing basis.

This morning I listened to the Claire Byrne show and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, was speaking on it in relation to the Bill. Something the Minister alluded to is the fact that this legislation will set a pathway by which pubs will open. I am not so sure if it is definite that is what will happen but I will say that the pubs have been treated rather shabbily by this Government. The pubs to which I refer are the pubs in rural areas in Galway East which are small family businesses. They are run by parents and family. They have no income right now. I know of one particular pub in a rural area which has been threatened with having its electricity cut off because the owner cannot afford to pay the ESB bill to keep the place warm, to keep everything right in it and keep fridges working, etc. The publican has put money into buying stock where he has now credit with the drinks companies but he does not have cash in his hand. This is the scenario at present.

If we are to be fair to everybody and offer parity to all businesses, this Bill is being set out as something for the Garda to monitor pubs and the pubs do not need monitoring because they are not open. We have made mistakes in how we have gone about the reopening of our economy. That is fine because we are doing it for the first time ever but, right now, we need to look at the pubs. We need to give them clear direction. We should not be giving publicans a nod and a wink to the effect that this legislation may help to get the pubs open. We need to make a definite statement about the pubs. We need to make sure that the pubs are opened and the legislation is here to make sure that they comply.

I would imagine most people would say that a pub with a licence run by a family for generations is a safer place to have a drink than a house party where we cannot bring in legislation to control it. In the treatment of pubs, we have made the mistake of creating so-called "wet pub".

There are many pubs in Ireland which could be open today which could offer social gatherings for people who need to have social interaction. We can open such pubs without fear or favour because we know that the publicans will make sure that they are run in a proper manner.

While this legislation is necessary and I support it, we need a sunset clause on it and a mechanism by which we come back in here to challenge it before it is renewed.

Lastly, I would ask the Minister to bring back to the Cabinet the fact that the pubs need direction now and if they do not get that, they need to get a proper support package of funding to keep their owners and their families fed while they are in lockdown. It is wrong the way we have treated them where we have strung them along over the past six months. It is important that we make a clear statement immediately when this Bill is put in place that the path is now clear for the pubs to open in a way that we know they can work. That needs to be done without any further hesitation. Publicans are going from day to day and week to week not knowing what they will do. Some of them have staff and cannot tell them what they will be doing next week or the week after. It is unfair. They are credible business people who truly need to be treated fairly like everybody else.

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