“It looks terrible, but it ain’t that terrible.”
A restaurateur involved with Dublin’s Berlin D2, Jay Bourke, has said he is “appalled” and “embarrassed” by the scenes captured at the venue over the weekend.
A video posted on social media over the weekend appeared to show a lack of social distancing and a barman pouring alcohol into people’s mouths.
The video provoked widespread condemnation with Acting Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn calling it “reckless” and Minister Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris calling it “shameful”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Bourke said he had interviewed staff and security and had reviewed CCTV footage of the event after he saw the video. He said he was satisfied that the videos shared on social media showed “20 seconds of madness” and that overall the event was “well controlled”.
“I was appalled at the video very unhappy indeed and embarrassed actually but I was actually in West Cork and so I drove up today and I managed to get my hands on the CCTV footage,” Bourke said.
“I managed to interview my staff. I talked to my head of security and I’ve sort of been gathering information all day about the day’s events and the evening’s events.
“I’ve even been to see the police and the inspector in charge of licensing in the Pearse Street area and I’m sort of satisfied that I’ve got to the bottom of it all really.”
Bourke said a brunch had taken place in the premises during the daytime with 51 people in attendance, which is about 20% of pre-covid capacity. He said all the PPE, contact tracing and hygiene requirements were adhered to.
“Unfortunately at ten to four, one of my barmen decided to jump up on the bar and pour some whiskey into four people’s mouths and someone took a video of it and it looked absolutely horrific.
“It looked as if it had gone bananas but in fact, when you look at the CCTV footage of the whole… the premies in fact was pretty well controlled.
“So that footage does not reflect what went on that day at all,” he said.
“I have four hours of [CCTV footage] and I’m handing the footage to the police… and it shows very clearly that not only were the people distanced but the tables were distanced and it was quite sparsely populated.
“So it looks terrible but it ain’t that terrible,” he said before pointing out the ventilation system and sterilisation of the premises.
“I’m not excusing that video or that behaviour or what that particular barman did. I have to be objective about my own position as an operator and say, ‘what did we do wrong’ and ‘how are we never going to let that happen again’.
“I’m happy that I can say that it will never happen again and at all times since we opened on 29 June, the place has adhered to the guidelines very strictly.”
Bourke said the premises has been visited more than 25 times by Gardaí and were recently visited by the HSE and they have been happy with them at all times.
However, the Licensed Vintners Association has called for the premises to be shut down immediately.
“This is outrageous and appalling,” the LVA said in a statement. “That business should be shut down immediately. It is not a pub and does not hold a pub licence. Clear need for inspections across the hospitality sector to ensure compliance with guidelines and licensing conditions.
The LVA added: “They don’t have a pub licence. Just as restaurants don’t have pub licences, hotel bars don’t have pub licenses etc.”
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