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

I would love to have a verbal engagement with the person who dreamt up the term "wet pubs". It should be banned from our language completely because it is an insult. There is no such thing in Ireland, or anywhere else in the world, as a wet pub. It is a stupid statement dreamt up by a stupid person. A pub is a pub, end of story. A pub is run by a person called a licensed vintner, who is respectable and must go before the courts every September to get a licence to trade. It is a highly regulated business. Having this terminology of "wet pub" is stupid beyond belief and it should not be used in this House any more.

We had publicans up yesterday. They came up in a respectable way. Two people had travelled from Kerry, the county I represent, for example. We had the same kind of representation from around the country. It was not that people came or moved en masseor anything like that. They were representing public houses which are being told they will not be allowed to open. We honestly think that is wrong. These are dependable people and if they were allowed to open, they certainly would not have anything to do with the spread of the pandemic or anything like it.

There is also another group of people about whom I want to speak. I refer to people who own public houses, are of pension age and have worked very hard but have not been able to receive any supports. Those people were not looking for the €350 pandemic unemployment payment. They were being reasonable and understanding. What they were saying to me was that they wanted what they were getting in their pension to be subtracted from the €350 and for the balance to be given to them. If such people were getting €220 or €230 on a pension, they were just looking for that amount to be made up to €350. I think that is a plausible and sensible request for any person to make. These people have been working hard and serving their communities well over the years. If the number of people from County Kerry who raised this with me is reflective of the rest of the country, there are an awful lot of people in that position. I would dearly love to see those older people - they are not that old - get a little bit of a leg up. I would have thought the Minister would have been able to cater for that very important group of people.

See this speech in context