Tanaiste Leo Varadkar says a date was not agreed for the opening of the ‘wet pubs’

The government has yet to agree on a date to allow the wet pubs to reopen, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said.

Mr Varadkar said he “never guaranteed” that the wet pubs will reopen and that it will be a decision of the government acting on the advice of NPHET.

Draft government guidelines that were drawn up together with Failte Ireland were distributed to groups of winegrowers over the weekend.

However, Varadkar said he believes pubs should have a firm date when they can reopen so they won’t be disappointed again.

Said, “I can’t guarantee that [wet pubs can open] and I never guaranteed that, that will be a government decision that will act on the advice of NPHET.

“What I could do, this time, however, is give the publicans a date when it will actually happen.

“Because I know a lot of them feel like they got to a point on two occasions where they thought pubs were going to open in a few days.

“And that’s why I think that when we give a date, that date should be when it really happens, but a date has not been agreed yet.”

Varadkar also said that the new regulations introduced by which restaurants have to keep receipts belonging to customers is never about wanting to know what people had eaten.

He said people had “misunderstood what the regulation said” and it was to make sure pubs serving food “really do that” and abide by the rules.

The Tanaiste also said that the government’s green travel list will not be updated until the government’s new roadmap is released later this month.

He said the roadmap will address the government’s approach to international travel.