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Hundreds of pubs are planning to open their doors on June 29, six weeks ahead of schedule.
Many drunkards with restaurant licenses hope to return to business on the previous date, sources from the bar trade told CorkBeo.
Yesterday, Dublin’s chief publican, Charlie Chawke, stated that he would open his bars the day before when restaurants get the green light to exit the shutdown.
He said his iconic Goat pub in South Dublin would be selling pizza outside and serving pints on June 29.
Chawke, owner of a chain of nine water wells around Ireland, said: “I will comply with the regulations. I own a restaurant, I have restaurant licenses, and this entitles me to open as a restaurant. “
There are believed to be several hundred pubs across the country that have restaurants and bar licenses.
Bar bosses are furious that the government has refused to meet with them to discuss their objections to being forced to wait six weeks longer than restaurants to reopen.
Wine growers’ lobby groups have produced a detailed plan of radical measures aimed at introducing social distancing. But calls to discuss it have been deaf.
Yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar admitted that one of the things he longed for the most was to have a pint.
However, he said he couldn’t see that pubs were allowed to move forward on the roadmap to reopen the country.
“The key for us is whether it is possible to open a business and maintain good hygiene and social distance,” Varadkar told Today FM.
“The truth is that in a pub it is very difficult. The pubs had to close before they were told to close because they could not maintain social distancing in several cases and the difficulty for the publicans, and I really feel for them, if they keep the two-meter rule could be opened, but would they be viable?
“It is something that we are determined to work with them, but the way things are, we will not see pubs, discos, entertainment venues open until mid-August.”
Last week, the chief physician, Dr. Tony Holohan, also rejected requests to reopen pubs before August 10.
The LVA and the Irish Winemakers Federation, representing more than 7,000 bars, have written to the CMO, the Taoiseach and the Minister of Health seeking a meeting to discuss the social distancing plans they are proposing.
The plan included radical measures such as closing bar areas, table service, banning music and limiting the number of customers.
The publicans are angry that restaurants and cafes will open their doors six weeks before bars, many of which also depend on the food trade.
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