Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When I said the position was a shambles, this is what I was talking about. The Minister of State indicated that the Minister of Justice had "committed to taking legislative action, if necessary". In the past hour and a half, the Irish Independenthas reported that "Justice Minister Heather Humphreys will bring legislative changes on pubs and restaurants selling alcohol in their outdoor seating areas" in the coming days. That is the message that people who are fighting really hard to save their businesses and workers who want their jobs to survive this, are getting. They are getting mixed messages. They deserve some clarity, as do members of An Garda Síochána who are being asked to police this. They are not being given sufficient guidance by the Government on the issue.

As I stated, I raised this issue with the Tánaiste six weeks ago. The Government has had a long time to plan for it. We should not be having the conversation at this late stage. In the intervening time, will the Government issue guidance and provide some sort of clarity for those people who are going to be expected to deal with the mess the Government has created?

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