NPHET has ‘anti-hospitality agenda’ – VFI chief

(Above) Mullingar publican Liam Gilleran.

The speed with which NPHET and the government close down pubs and restaurants when there is a surge in Covid-19 cases show that there is an “anti-hospitality” agenda, according to the chairman of the Westmeath branch of the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI)

At the time of writing on Monday, it was widely expected that the government would announce on Tuesday that gastropubs and restaurants would be closed again before New Year's Eve following a worrying increase in the number of people testing positive for Covid-19. However, earlier this afternoon (Tuesday), the government announced that all pubs and restaurants are closing from 3pm on Christmas Eve.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, local VFI chief Liam Gilleran noted that while the rise in cases is “frightening”, recent HSE statistics showed that there appeared to little or no link with the reopening of pubs earlier this month.

“The HPSC (Health Protection Surveillance Centre) produced figures that not one case of Covid had come from hospitality [in the previous two weeks]. Nonetheless, hospitality is being thrown under the bus once again.

“I can't see the correlation between hospitality and Covid. Not at this stage. We are resigned to it [closing again], because it will happen again. They have their mind made up and there is definitely an anti-hospitality agenda. It's obvious at this stage.”

Rather than close gastropubs and restaurants again, Mr Gilleran believes that they should be allowed to remain open, along with the country's pubs that don't serve food.

“This would dilute all of the house parties and underground drinking that is going to happen now. Whatever chance you have with a policed environment, you won't have it in an unpoliced one.

Mr Gilleran believes that it will be well into the new year, perhaps after St Patrick's Day, when so called wet pubs reopen and it could be same for gastropubs such as his own.

“Something tells me that there are people on the NPHET committee that are absolutely anti everything to do with people enjoying themselves and having a good time.”

Mr Gilleran also said that not enough attention has been paid to the amount of social problems caused by the increase in drinking at home due to the closure of pubs for much of the last ten months.

“Hospitality itself is a bit like a pressure cooker. It's a release valve for a lot of people. They can come in and have a pint or a burger, or go out to the smoking area, or watch Sky Sports. It's a different environment, whether it's for an hour or half an hour. Not alone are we good fun and a nice place to come to, from a head space perspective it's also nice to get out too.”

Mr Gilleran is also critical of the amount of time the government waited to make an announcement regarding changes to Covid restrictions over the Christmas period. He says that many gastropubs such as his own will have to throw out thousands of euro worth of perishable stock already brought it.

“I don't know what world they live in, but the world of business is seven days a week. They should have at least made a definitive announcement yesterday (Sunday) because the truth be known every single person in government knows what the story is. They are putting sound bites out to the media and it is very disrespectful to hospitality. They should at least have the balls to come out and say look we are closing on such-a-such date.

“They should give us and the people who work for us time to get our heads around it,” he said.