Call for immediate closure of pubs, hotels in ‘flagrant breach’ of rules

The law should change so that pubs, restaurants and hotels found to be in “flagrant breach” of the Covid-19 rules can be closed immediately, representatives of the restaurant and pub sectors have said.

They also said they would like to see the names published of those businesses found to be in breach of the rules, in the same way that the names of food outlets that have been closed are named by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

"We don't want to get back to the place where our industry is closed down again,"said Adrian Cummins, chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland.

“I would like to see the naming and shaming of those found not to be in compliance.”

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There are hundreds of environmental health officers who can close down a food outlet if they believe it is not in compliance with the food safety laws. But hotels, restaurants and pubs that are found not to be in compliance with the Covid public health rules cannot be closed immediately and in the same way.

Mr Cummins suggested environmental health officers could have their roles expanded to include compliance with the Covid rules.

He also said that sometimes gardaí have a different understanding of the rules to his members.

In one recent case a Garda had said that soup and a sandwich did not qualify as a “substantial meal” under the guidelines “but it does if it costs more than €9”, he said.

Donall O'Keeffe, chief executive of the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA), said many of its members were inspected by gardaí a number of times a week.

“There has to be consequences for those found not to be following the guidelines, including objections to the renewal of their licences in September.”

Licences to sell alcohol are renewed every September and An Garda Síochána can object to the renewal of particular licences if they believe the court should not do so.

Mr O’Keeffe would like to see outlets that are “flagrantly” in breach of the Covid guidelines to face being “shut down immediately.”

Garda inspections

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said on RTÉ radio on Monday that he believed the Garda had visited more than 6,000 premises at the weekend, and that of the nearly 3,000 restaurants that were operating, only 26 had been found to be non-compliant.

Files were being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions in those instances, he said.

However, a spokesman for the Garda Press Office said: “An Garda Síochána did not publish these figures. An Garda Síochána will as per normal publish updated Operation Navigation figures on Wednesday.”

It is understood the gardaí check approximately 2,500-3,000 hospitality businesses every week and have found that most premises where problems have been identified have closed when asked.

A prosecution can be brought if a premises is found to be serving alcohol but not food, but there is no power to prosecute businesses where social distancing and other guidelines are not being observed.

‘Slap in the face’

Earlier, Mr Donnelly described the scenes at a Dublin city venue at the centre of a controversy over alleged breaches of coronavirus guidelines at the weekend as “reckless” and “a slap in the face” to people who had made huge sacrifices during the pandemic.

The Minister, who confirmed he had spoken to his Cabinet colleague Minister for Justice Helen McEntee about the matter, said “behaviour like that poses a threat to life. We’re not messing around here”.

The proprietor of Berlin D2, Jay Bourke, said he was “appalled, very unhappy and embarrassed” at video footage that emerged on social media over the weekend in which customers were shown crowding around a bar as a man dancing on it, while wearing a mask, poured drink into their mouths.