A senior Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) doctor has endorsed comments by chief medical officer Tony Holohan that the public should walk out of pubs or restaurants that are not asking for Covid-19 digital certificates.
Ina Kelly, the chair of the IMO’s public health committee, told RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland that hospitality businesses need to follow the protocols which insist that only those who are fully vaccinated can be served indoors.
“If we see places that aren’t safe, it is best not to go into those and we need to encourage businesses to follow the protocols as well as possible,” she said.
“All of this helps us to keep places open while we have a Covid risk in our communities.”
As The Irish Times reports, her comments come in advance of the meeting on Tuesday between representatives of the hospitality industry and Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Non-compliance
Officials in the Department of the Taoiseach will brief the hospitality sector on the dangers of the transmission of Covid-19. In advance of the meeting they warned the sector that non-compliance could have consequences for the continuing reopening of society.
Denis McCauley, the chair of the IMO’s GP committee, said the levels of non-compliance with the Covid certs in pubs and restaurants is in the order of one in three to one in two establishments.
He said Northern Ireland has much higher rates of Covid-19 because it allows unvaccinated people into pubs and restaurants.
“I would hate to think that we could get to the same levels of Northern Ireland,” he said.
Dr McCauley said non-compliance in the hospitality sector is “completely unacceptable” given how hard the sector lobbied to be opened up.
He also called on anyone planning an office or workplace Christmas party to ensure it was an “official” one in a venue that would check Covid certs.
Christmas party
Speaking on Newstalk’s Pat Kenny show, Dr McCauley said he was going to be “Scrooge” and say that it would be better not to have a company event this year, but if it was going ahead it should be “planned and controlled.”
“Nobody likes to cancel Christmas, and no politician would like to cancel Christmas. But I’m a doctor - I have no such issues.
“We have been told by Nphet to try to limit our amount of socialising, to a certain extent. If it’s a choice between having Christmas with your family and an office party - which one would you choose? I think most of us would choose our family.
“If you’re going to have an unofficial Christmas party, don’t. If you’re determined to have a party of some form, have it in a controlled environment where all the Covid measures are there.”
People could have an enjoyable night in a restaurant or pub that implemented Covid-19 controls, he said. It was “okay to say no” if anyone felt uncomfortable attending a work event this Christmas.
Additional reporting Vivienne Clarke
