Irish government is confused as to whether or not to open pubs

Dublin: The government is in dire straits, unable to decide whether to open pubs in the Covid context.

On one side Covid is spreading, and schools opening on the other. In the meantime, 3,000 bars and pubs have been closed for six months. In addition, unemployed workers and pub owners who have lost income.

In the midst of all this, the government is confused and unable to make a decision. It has been agreed that pubs will be open from September 21, but it is not yet clear if that will work.

The National Public Health Emergency Team is expected to discuss the matter at its regular meeting on Thursday. The government can take a decision only with their recommendation.

The Cabinet sub-committee based on Covid will also join that day. If both agree on the pubs opening then it can be opened.

A government spokesman said the government was aware that more than 3,000 pubs had been closed for the past six months.

The fact that there are supporters within the government and even in the cabinet who support the opening of pubs makes it even more stressful.

In any case, the government has agreed to extend the restrictions announced by the Public Health Committee to 15 until a decision is taken on the matter.

Earlier, public health regulations were in place until September 13th. The cabinet has given the go-ahead to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to extend the current restrictions until September 15.

Pubs that do not serve food are allowed to reopen until September 21st.

A government spokesperson said, the final decision on whether to open the pubs would be made only after considering Covid’s condition.

In any case, a decision will be taken after the 21st of this month. If the situation worsens during this time, it will affect the opening of pubs.

At the same time, there are those in the cabinet who argue that the situation is not so serious, despite the spread of Covid. They point out that there are very less Covid deaths and that there was a huge drop in the number of people coming to the ICU.

The rate of covid infection in Ireland is 33.8 per lakh. They also point out that it is lower than the UK, Spain, France and Belgium.

The senior minister pointed out that Covid rates were higher in other EU country capitals than in Dublin and that those countries were not locking up their cities.