Varadkar “felt really bad” about giving wet pubs false hope to reopen

The Tánaiste says he “felt really bad” about giving wet pubs false hope to reopen earlier in the pandemic.

It comes as many in the hospitality sector say a more solid roadmap is still needed to return to trading this Summer.

Leo Varadkar’s defended this by saying they don’t want to announce any easing of restrictions too early, only to disappoint people.

However, he’s told KCLR’s The Bottom Line that there’s a good chance local pubs, restaurants and hotels will be boosted by British tourists in the coming months.

“I remember the amount of times we told the pubs they were going to open in three weeks, then we kept pulling it away from them and I felt really bad about that” he opened up to John Purcell. “So you don’t want to give somebody a plan that’s not really a plan. But if I was to give an indication as to how I think it will go, I think it might be the common travel area first, so allowing people to travel freely between Britain and Ireland. They’re heavily vaccinated in Britain, incidence there is lower than here… so I think that might be the first step.”