Ireland's pubs and restaurants have been “abandoned by Government,” according to a leading Dublin publican.
In his address to the nation this evening, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin outlined a range of changes to coronavirus restrictions – and insisted that people will “enjoy much greater freedom later in the summer.”
He said hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses could reopen in June – but made no mention of the country’s pubs and restaurants.
On The Hard Shoulder this evening, Ronan Lynch, owner of the Swan Bar and former Licensed Vintners Association chairman said thousands of businesses have, “just been thrown under the bus.”
“There is absolutely nothing in this for us whatsoever,” he said.
“We were looking for some sort of plan for reopening. We were looking for markers to say that when some percentage of the population is vaccinated, maybe we can get open.
“I don’t know what to say to this. What I can see from this quite clearly is that there are 7,000 family businesses and 50,000 jobs that have just been thrown under the bus.
“No consideration; no hope for their future and we don’t know where we stand with the Government.
“It is just all kind of grey area talk and it is just really, really disheartening for anybody that works in the hospitality trade to hear this kind of talk coming from Government.”
He said the lack of detail suggests the Government has no confidence in its own vaccine rollout.
“It says to me that the Government has no hope in the rollout of the vaccine because they are not willing to pin their colours to the flag,” he said. “There are no markers – so what hope do people have?
“It is just absolutely totally insulting to an industry that has been the longest closed and just hung out to dry by Government.
“We have been abandoned by Government – that is it.”
Earlier the country’s pubs and restaurants called on the Taoiseach to announce a clear roadmap for reopening – noting that many pubs have now been shut for longer than a year.
Mr Lynch said he was shocked that the Taoiseach did not reference the industry at all in his speech.
“We know nothing because we didn’t even feature at all so I don’t know what to make of it,” he said.
“I am just absolutely devastated to hear that businesses are closed this long and this is the way we are treated.
“They don’t even give us the dignity of mentioning us in any shape or form. We are not in the reopening plan as it stands today and I think a lot of people will be really, really upset about it.
“I think it is a blow to all SMEs that are attached to tourism industry or hospitality as well. These actions just don’t really give a huge amount of confidence.”
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