Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has spoken out this afternoon, commenting on the recently announced government guidelines and trying to assure business owners that they are in their best interests.
Speaking to RTÉ's News at One, Minister Donnelly said that there are only two aims of the new measures - public safety and protecting pubs who are already following the regulations. Disputing claims that the new guidelines are 'overreach' on his part, he went on to add that the required record is only going to be in place until 'wet pubs' are allowed to reopen.
Donnelly later clarified that the measure does not apply to restaurants as 'their main business is serving food' and they already adhere to such practices.
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'No one is ever going to question whether or not a restaurant is serving food. This is really just for the very, very small minority of pubs who are serving alcohol and are flouting the rules... The only place this will actually be used is if there is clearly a violation where a pub has opened, a pub is flouting the rules - which is grossly unfair on the vast majority of the sector.'
Publicans and hospitality business owners have not responded well to the new guidelines, with many failing to see their relevance in terms of public health and safety.
