Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The Government's mismanagement of the hospitality sector has been a car crash. The collateral damage has affected many pubs and restaurants, some of which have now been closed for 420 days. No other country in Europe has closed hospitality for so long. In research I have done today, I can find no other European country where indoor dining in restaurants is closed. Denmark and Finland had roughly the same level of mortality as this State and has had roughly the same level of vaccinations. They managed to open their indoor dining facilities in April and May. Here in Ireland, hotels have been allowed to open up indoor dining since the start of June and the Tánaiste says there is no science behind the decision to discriminate between hotels, restaurants and pubs.

There has been incredible confusion on our streets over the past while. The Government paid hundreds of thousands of euro in marketing to encourage people onto our streets while at the same time, we saw gardaí baton charge young people off those streets. For weeks, the Government has allowed publicans to serve takeaway pints to thousands of people milling around our streets but have banned the sale of pints to people sitting safely at those publicans' tables outside those pubs. In the latest version, the Government has made millions of euro of grant aid available to pubs and restaurants to sell food and drink in areas where the sale of drink is illegal according to by-laws. It is an absolutely incredible situation.

Hospitality, tourism and aviation have been calling for the introduction of rapid antigen testing since its approval by the EU last December but the Government does not like the word "rapid" and cannot make a decision. We have a situation whereby the minister for making things up as we go along has concocted a solution for the confusion as regards the sale of alcohol and food on streets where it is actually banned. She has called on the gardaí to close their eyes and say nothing. It is an incredible situation. Restaurants and pubs in many parts of the country will now operate at the pleasure of local gardaí and discretion may mean that some restaurants and pubs can function and others cannot. Garda representatives themselves have said that when things go wrong, the blame will be put on their members, who will have to defend their actions. Those representatives have said they are worried that the Garda will be scapegoated for impossible decisions that will have to be made. I have never before seen a Government tie itself up in so many knots of confusion.

This Government has been a fiasco factory when it comes to hospitality. Will it now legislate so that pubs, restaurants and hotels can operate safely under the same science and the same regulations?

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