Taoiseach calls meeting with hospitality sector over COVID-19 fears

Taoiseach Micheal Martin is set to meet with the hospitality sector as COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise nationwide.

Nightclubs have been open since October 22 after being closed since the outset of the pandemic in March 2020 while pubs have been subject to more relaxed guidelines since October 18.

The Department of Health has reported high case numbers over the past week, with daily figures rising from 2,549 last Friday (October 29) to 3,903 yesterday.

The Department of the Taoiseach has now called a meeting with hospitality representatives to present and discuss the latest data amid concerns that guidelines aren’t being followed.

The meeting, which will take place at noon on Tuesday, will focus on compliance failures, ways to better assess the risk to customers and tighten up measures to slow the spread of the virus.

The latest survey from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) shows that the number of people who have not had their COVID-19 passes checked in pubs has risen from 21% to 37% in late October.

In restaurants, meanwhile, more than a third of customers (34%) did not have their digital Covid certs in October, and a fifth of people take precautions such as mask-wearing less than half the time despite guidance.

In a statement, the Taoiseach warned the sector that ‘if we do not engender a sense of collective effort, it will severely hamper our capacity to get transmission under control.

‘In turn, this will limit our options in terms of reducing the burden of disease and mortality of this latest wave.’

Speaking on Friday, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said the latest figures, which show there are now 463 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 76 in intensive care, are ‘very concerning’.

‘This is not a situation any of us want to be in, but our reality remains that we are still in the midst of a global pandemic,’ he added.