Large public gatherings will inevitably lead to more spikes of the coronavirus, a former professor of Population Health Medicine has warned.
Prof Joe Barry said scenes in Dublin over the weekend, where groups of people were seen drinking on the streets, were predicable given the ability under law for premises to sell alcohol for takeaway.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said the situation at the weekend did not allow for proper contact tracing and most young people do not really observe social distancing.
He said it is very hard for pubs to enforce Fáilte Ireland guidelines and there are weaknesses in legislation, which have always led to problems with alcohol consumption.
The Licensed Vintners’ Association said the scenes witnessed on Dublin’s Dame Lane at the weekend were “shocking and disgraceful” and should not be happening and called on gardaí to investigate.
Donal O’Keeffe said while it is not illegal for pubs to sell alcohol from a hatch, takeaway alcohol cannot be consumed within 100 metres of the pub.
He said it is very difficult for pubs to enforce that rule and gardaí must intervene to deal with it.
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He said there is a weakness is the legislation in this regard but that on street drinking has been a problem “forever” but is has now become a worrying and dangerous problem.
Mr O’Keeffe said that the situation seen at the weekend is a separate issue to pubs reopening and publicans are working hard to follow guidelines and comply with public health advice.
Licensed premises reopened last Monday under Phase 3 of the roadmap to kickstart the economy.
At present, pubs are only allowed serve alcohol to customers who purchase a “substantial” meal costing at least €9.
In a tweet, Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris urged people to “keep using our cop on” saying “we’ve come too far to go back”.
C’mon everyone. We’ve come too far to go back. Great to see our economy reopened & social life resuming but let’s keep using our cop on & common sense. We owe it to each other, to those families who have lost loved ones, to the local business we want to keep open & to our kids https://t.co/zcoeWkETUg
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) July 5, 2020
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