'Targeting hospitality will lead to more house parties', says Mullingar publican

Closing pubs at 8pm could led to more cases of Covid not fewer, a local publican believes.

Last month, the president of the Mullingar and District VFI, Liam Gilleran predicted that the government would introduce new restrictions for the hospitality sector.

His worst fears came to pass on Friday evening when Taoiseach Micheál Martin imposed an 8pm curfew on the hospitality sector and entertainment venues in the latest round of Covid restrictions. Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner this week, Mr Gilleran said that the imposition of the curfew will be particularly hard on pubs that don’t serve food.

"It’s devastation for the trade. A month ago I said that they would take this route, and they have. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have us closed down around Christmas Eve as they did last year.

"A lot of members don’t do food and they wouldn’t have a strong enough day trade. As it is, 50 to 60 per cent of our members don’t open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and those that do, it’s in the evening time, in the last couple of hours."

Mr Gilleran says that the government has been "very clever in how they are doing this".

"They are not in essence closing us down. They haven’t spoken to us yet about the package they are going to give to hospitality – at the end of the day, it’s like the death of a thousand cuts.

"I was talking to people over the weekend, and they say that they just don’t get this 8pm watershed. In all fairness, most of our members run good houses and we are doing our best when it comes to tracking and contact tracing.

"Obviously, that’s not good enough from the government’s perspective."

Imposing a closing time of 8pm will led to an increase in the number of house parties over the Christmas period, Mr Gilleran believes, and that the hospitality and entertainment sectors are paying for government’s failure to address the shortage of ICU beds.

However, rather than flattening the curve, imposing an 8pm closing time could have the opposite effect.

"Targeting hospitality will lead to more house parties that are unmonitored. I can’t seen An Garda Síochána driving through estates looking for house parties – they have enough on their plate.

"Whatever chance you have in a monitored situation, there are no regulations at a house party. If they really want to get a handle on Covid, surely leaving the pubs open and allowing people to stay out longer in a controlled environment is a lot healthier and safer than going home at eight o’clock and partying all night long."

Meanwhile, Mullingar Arts Centre have changed the performance times of this year’s panto in order to comply with the new restrictions.

Starting yesterday, on the days when there is only one performance, shows start at 6pm.

On the days that there are two shows, the first starts at 2.30pm, and the later performance is at 5.30pm.