UPROAR has been expressed nationally with the recommendations of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) issued amid the rising spread of the Omnicron variant
Cabinet officials are meeting today (Friday) to discuss NPHET’s shock proposals with Taoiseach Micheál Martin (FF) rushing back from Brussels to convene the sitting. The Taoiseach, Tanáiste Leo Varadkar (FG) and Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan (GP) met with Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan and NPHET officials on Tuesday to avoid any potential surprises with the recommendations, however politicians and the public have been left stunned with the advice put forward.
“Exceptional concern” has been raised by NPHET on the impact of COVID-19 and the new variant in its advice to Government.
A closing time of 5pm as of next Monday is the recommendation from NPHET. It is also keen that sporting, theatre and cultural gatherings not be held after 5pm with capacity for outdoor events to be reduced to 5000 people or fifty percent. A major reduction in the amount of persons allowed to attend indoor and outdoor events is also flagged.
Despite all the proposals put forward, NPHET have no desire to see schools closed earlier than planned. The education settings are proving to be a major source of the virus transmitting across the country. Restrictions on the numbers allowed to gather in households, currently three households can meet at the home of a fourth, are not set to be tightened.
Close contacts of a confirmed COVID case will be advised to restrict their movements if they have not received a booster vaccine, NPHET advised.
Impacts to the hospitality sector and the mental health of the public are the main counter-arguments put forward by politicians and business people since the recommendations were first reported by The Irish Daily Mail.
Latest data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) from Thursday (December 16th) detailed that 105 persons were presently in intensive care because of COVID-19 in the Republic of Ireland. 1,402,866 booster vaccinations have been administered to date while 7,459,458 vaccines have been administered in the country.
Co-owner of Monks in Ballyvaughan, Patrick O’Donoghue admitted he was stunned by the recommendations which if approved by the Cabinet will force him to let staff go on Christmas week. “I’m flabbergasted we’re back at this situation where we may be closing at 5pm on Monday, I’m utterly dismayed to tell staff I’d have to let them go before Christmas, I’m shocked and struggling for words, I can’t get my head around it”.
Monks have in excess of 20 staff, their festive period is likely to be shattered if the proposals are passed. “I am struggling to get my head around the fact that on Monday that I won’t be able to provide our staff with any income for Christmas or the weeks after. We’ve been here before but this is the hardest one, I can’t understand why we are here with ninety percent of the population vaccinated and the booster roll-out continuing. It is time to learn to live with COVID, it’s not going where, we need to learn to live with it and by living with it I mean continuing to live our lives,” Patrick stated.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, the Ballyvaughan native highlighted that the hospitality sector needed to be trusted by the Government. “The Government are damned if they do and damned if they don’t, everyone will jump on the bandwagon either way. The most important thing is for us to stay safe, the next important thing is for us to learn to live with the virus, letting staff go from the hospitality sector every time there is a new variant is not the answer. The answer is by trusting us in the hospitality sector to provide as safe an area as we can, we are currently doing that and we’ve had the rug pulled out from us. There is no need to bring closures to 5pm, bring it forward to 9pm or 10pm because we need something to pay our staff this Christmas”.
For the festive season, Monks were expecting “a large footfall” with their stock ordered to meet this prediction, “we’re going to be left with that stock, nobody seems to think about that when making those decisions”. Patrick added, “We are regulated to provide food in a safe environment and we’ve been doing that. I’m devastated today, I’m hoping against hope that by 6pm we might have something to grasp and we might be able to keep going, families and workers depend on employers and people to support them in this environment so that they can a happy Christmas with their families, how will it be a happy Christmas if we’ve to let our staff go”.
“I always use the term that there is light at the end of the tunnel but this tunnel is getting longer and longer, we are adults and we should be adapting to live with what comes us at us in life, this is running and hiding from it, we can live with it but running away from it won’t do that,” he stressed.
Recommendations put forward by NPHET also surprised Eamon Duggan of Malachy’s Bar in Quin. “I didn’t think they would come with such a drastic recommendation. I didn’t think they would be so severe in hours. Bringing it back from midnight makes no sense but back to late afternoon when we’re in rural Clare does that effectively mean they want to close our pubs”.
Eamon acknowledged the gravity of the health situation with regards to the virus but felt the impact on mental health by reducing activities after 5pm be they cultural or social would affect the mental health of the Irish people.
Closing at either 9pm or 10pm would be more amenable and would also limit the amount of house parties likely to occur if pubs are closed, he said. “There has been a free for all in house parties, garages and shebeens, at least we’re regulated in the pubs, why are we going after those that after regulated, why not go after the unregulated, why target the regulated. What’s the effort behind closing down house parties and shebeens and unregulated businesses. We need to look at closing at 9pm or 10pm rather than 5pm and also limit house parties by having people together in responsible settings”.
Newmarket-on-Fergus native Duggan questioned if new personnel were required on NPHET to bring a different viewpoint to bring a change of tack in reacting to new variants. “This virus will be us ongoing for some time, every time there is a strain will we continue to be closed down or restricted. Should we be listening to the voices of business to learn to live with this virus, is it time to change tack and change the NPHET personnel. Live with this as opposed to hiding from it. Is this the right approach or do we need to try live with it, change tack, get the boosters out. I think we have to have a little bit of pragmatic and common sense towards vaccinated people, there should be more flexibility towards the vaccinated being outside after 5pm”.
Co-owner of the Shannon Springs Hotel, Dermot Kelly was frustrated that the recommendations earmarked hospitality as one of the first areas that would suffer. Fellow colleagues in the Irish Hotel Federation were also shocked with the recommendations, he said. “Hospitality seems to be the first go every stage, it’s soul-destroying. We’ve stocked up for Christmas, we’ve prepared rosters and all sorts to get through the few weeks, we’re already restricted but operating as safely as we can”.
Measures in place at hotels like the Shannon Springs are adequately helping to limit the spread of the virus, Dermot believed. “My initial reaction was how can this be given we’re 95 percent with double vaccination in the country, why would they push this on us, there has to be some allowances, the hospitality sector has had low incidences of outbreaks, we’re operating to the guidelines, you need to have the COVID cert and ID to gain access to the bars and restaurants, we have the social distancing and the air circulation”.
Supports for businesses currently not available in the month of December such as the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme need to be made available in January, the Ruan man felt.
