[ad_1]
JUNIOR Business Minister Robert Troy told a private Fianna Fáil meeting that licenses should be closed for three weeks amid concerns about the spread of Covid-19.
This proposal goes beyond the government’s plans to significantly reduce its opening hours in an attempt to suppress house parties and large social gatherings.
The issue was discussed at Fianna Fáil’s parliamentary party meeting tonight.
Sources said Longford-Westmeath TD Mr Tory said unlicensed licenses should be completely closed for three weeks.
Dara Calleary didn’t go that far, but said it is necessary to cut down on alcohol discounts and specials in supermarkets.
Mayo TD is said to have pointed out that it is difficult for small businesses to close while supermarkets participate in the practice.
John Lahart of Dublin South-West made similar comments about the need to explore ways to reduce alcohol sales, including in supermarkets.
Sligo-Leitrim TD Marc MacSharry said he was totally against the license closure and called on the government to increase capacity in ICU and acute care hospitals through the use of private hospitals.
Kildare North TD James Lawless said the government should have a plan for Christmas and that people should know sooner rather than later what will be safe and permissible, including whether the family will be able to return home from abroad and whether they will meet in private homes. . will be allowed.
Lawless said that whatever the rules are, it’s best to post them now so people can plan ahead.
Longford-Westmeath TD Joe Flaherty called for the betting houses to be closed.
Flaherty said the people congregating at the betting house facilities have become a problem for the staff working there.
He stated that customers have had little regard for public health and social distancing and noted that the bookmakers are licensed establishments and this had been overlooked in the move to Level 3.
Proposals to restrict off-license opening hours were discussed at Monday’s cabinet meeting, where ministers agreed to impose Level 3 restrictions across the country.
The Minister of Social Protection, Heather Humphreys, was the first to raise the issue and was supported by the Minister of Justice, Helen McEntee, and the Minister of State for Roads, Hildegarde Naughton.
Ms Humphreys’ Monaghan constituency has seen a recent spike in Covid-19 and Ms Naughton is a minister from Galway where a large gathering of students drinking in the city recently made national headlines. The minister was furious about the street party at the Arco de España and said something should be done about the role licenses play in these types of events.
The meeting noted that reducing off-license opening hours can also help pubs and restaurants, as people are more likely to go to regulated venues rather than house parties.
At the Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday, Vice Minister Patrick O’Donovan called on the government to crack down on licensing and what it said was the “uncontrolled consumption and sale of alcohol.”
Online editors
[ad_2]