A local publican says he’s furious that pubs which don’t serve food still cannot open until July 20th.
There was confusion last night after the Taoiseach announced that pubs could reopen on June 29th, but the Business Minister subsequently had to clarify that that was only for places that served food.
Richie Gleeson of Gleeson’s Pub in Clonmel says it was a slap in the face.
And he’s told Tipp FM News he can’t understand it:
“Well it’s not just disappointing, I’m very angry over it now at this stage because it’s basically a direct vilification of our industy.
“It’s saying that we are completely different to everybody else. I mean, I’ve spoken to other industries that have very close contact [with people] involved and they’re allowed to reopen on the 29th of June.
“And when I say close contact, I mean they’re right up and personal.”
Continuing, Richie says that at this stage he strongly feels it’s a deliberate targeting of pubs like his:
“I can go out and play rugby from the 29th of June and rugby tackle a guy or get into a scrum with a guy, but I can’t stand two metres or sit two metres apart from somebody and drink a pint until the 20th of July.
“It makes no sense. It seems to be a direct attack on the pub industry and I’m starting to really feel like there’s some undercurrent coming from government that they don’t trust the pub game and they think we can’t run our own businesses.”
