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Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has withdrawn a Cabinet memo that seeks to reduce the circumstances in which people can gather to drink alcohol.
The proposals brought to the Cabinet would have classified as a crime, punishable by a fine of 80 euros, that two or more people meet outdoors where one of them drinks alcohol.
However, there was resistance from the Greens and Fine Gael at the Cabinet table, and it was decided that there was not enough support for the measure to proceed.
It is understood that the memorandum was drawn up at the behest of the Taoiseach Department and in conjunction with the Attorney General.
The memorandum provided for the prohibition of two or more people from meeting outdoors to drink alcohol to go.
On Monday, it was initially reported that the new regulations would prevent pubs from serving take out drinks. However, those reports met resistance within government parties, the sources said.
Prominent Fianna Fáil backbencher Barry Cowen, a former agriculture minister, was among the figures who criticized the idea.
The move was aimed at people rather than bars, which could still sell take-out drinks for people to consume at home.
One source said it was intended to make it easier for the Garda to separate large groups of people who drink together outside.
The move came as a senior official with the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) warned that Ireland could have “hundreds of thousands” of Covid-19 cases in January if large numbers of people return home by Christmas. *
Current efforts to reduce virus cases are also misplaced, said Deputy Medical Director Dr. Ronan Glynn, and may not be reversed at the end of the Level 5 restrictions on December 1.
Dr. Glynn criticized “a selfish minority” of people who violate public health standards by drinking heavily on city streets.
With the number of daily cases trending up again in recent days, Dr. Glynn warned, “We need to get to a much better place than this by December 1st.” Referring to the goal of less than 100 cases per day by that date, he said: “We are not even close to that at the moment.”
Asking people to avoid non-essential travel during Christmas, Dr. Glynn said, “We don’t want asymptomatic people, who feel completely fine, to return to this country to meet their loved ones, to interact with their families extended through generations; younger people, older people, and people with medical conditions.
“We don’t want thousands of people to do that, resulting in hundreds of thousands of cases in January and deaths, morbidity and mortality in January and February.”
* The Irish Times is satisfied that this quote is correct. A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said Dr. Glynn said “hundreds or thousands.”
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