“If house parties are the problem in the spread of the disease, you’ve got to go back and say, what’s fuelling the house parties?”
The CEO of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) has said the government should consider restrictions on the sale of alcohol from off licences and supermarkets if the country has to have another lockdown.
Padraig Cribben, CEO of the VFI, told Newstalk Breakfast a temporary prohibition on the sale of alcohol should be introduced if Covid-19 cases are increasing so quickly.
It comes following the National Public Health Emergency Team’s advice not to allow pubs that don’t serve food to open on Monday.
Cribben said illegal “shebeens” have been cropping up in sheds and houses across the country but he acknowledged that these are difficult for Gardaí to police.
“If house parties are the problem in the spread of the disease, you’ve got to go back and say, what’s fuelling the house parties?” he said.
“And what’s fuelling the house parties is the cheap alcohol out of supermarkets.
“You’ve got to do one of two things in relation to that. You’ve got to either bring in the minimum unit pricing, that’s already on our statute books.
He added: “The second option, which is a lot less palatable maybe for a lot of people, is that if we’re in such a bind, if the numbers are increasing at such a rate what we actually need to do is look at whether we should take a period of three weeks and actually stop the sale of alcohol in off licences for that period.”
Cribben’s comments come as the cabinet meets today to consider increased enforcement powers for An Garda Síochána to shutdown house parties and pubs which are breaching public health regulations.
The measures are part of proposed legislation announced by the government last week to help take the spread of Covid-19.
It’s thought the government will sign-off on the legislation and it will go before the Dáil next week.
Under the proposals, it would be an offence to organise or attend a gathering of more than six people in a private house.
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