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There is no “logic” in the regulations in the hospitality sector where a hotel can host a wedding with up to 50 people but cannot host a funeral party for the same number as the Dáil was told.
Independent TD Mattie McGrath said there were “glaring contradictions” in the regulations.
He said a hotel “can host a wedding reception for up to 50 people, but it can only host a group of six for any other important family event, such as a christening, birthday, or sadly a bereavement.
“This is decimating their business. It is strange, illogical, devastating to industry and dangerous to the very spirit of our community way of life. “
Tipperary’s TD was speaking when he made a motion from a private member calling for the regulations to be removed.
The requirement that pubs keep records of every food order for 28 days “is even less relevant now that the government has announced that our traditional pubs will reopen on September 21.”
However, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly defended the regulations, saying that the number of cases in the previous fortnight during July was from three per 100,000 people to 35 now and the average number of cases in the last five days was 175 per day.
They were not at the level of April or May, but “we are on an upward trajectory.”
In a subsequent debate, Donnelly said that the World Health Organization had previously said that “Ireland stands out for its political solidarity” compared to other countries that have used Covid as political football.
However, he said that “we are not doing as well as we were doing and the WHO could rate us a little less” and criticized the TDs who publicly denounced the measures they knew were saving lives.
He said Ireland is now in the “second chapter” of the pandemic that aimed to suppress the virus.
Limerick’s independent TD Richard O’Donoghue urged TDs to support the motion “for the IFA, Macra na Feirme and organizations that can only have six in a meeting.”
O’Donoghue said 159 TDs could appear at Leinster House. Not everyone may be able to enter the chamber, but “we are using common sense and we are bringing masks” and he said the same responsibility should be given to the public.
Independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae said it took “savage pressure” to open the pubs, but that he could not understand the government because “when there were fewer than ten cases a day, they would not allow pubs to open.” Now there are 320 boxes a day and she can open the pubs without problems. ”
He referred to photos from last week of a man and his son on the roof of a car watching a GAA game from the roadside while two others were on a ladder. He stated that “this is the result” of the Taoiseach’s commitment to working with the GAA to see how many more people could enter stadiums to watch games.
Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane accused the government of issuing mixed messages and missing targets in testing and tracking. He said that all pubs should be open now on the same basis.
Rural affairs labor spokesman Sean Sherlock said the minister should “stop acting as an independent observer for Stokes Kennedy Crowley,” to show more empathy and be less dispassionate.
Pubs must be reopened to allow their impact on “providing intergenerational solidarity, serving the fundamental human need to get out of the house and join with other members of a community, to meet, talk, chat, complain and moan.”
The Dáil will vote on the motion on Thursday.
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