Off-licence opening hours could be cut as part of Government plans aimed at clamping down on house parties and other social gatherings.
The move was discussed at a Cabinet meeting on Monday as ministers debated moving the country to Level 3 restrictions, as social gatherings in households have been linked to the spread of Covid-19.
Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan has said that the opening hours of off-licences and the volume of purchases need to be examined as the consumption of alcohol is a large part of the problem with transmission of the virus.
Mr O’Donovan told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show that people were leaving supermarkets with shopping trolleys full of alcohol and “we know they’re not being taken home for an after dinner aperitif”.
The Minister said that his own brother was a publican and he was going to miss the wedding of a close friend this weekend because it was in another county.
Uncontrolled
The “uncontrolled” consumption of alcohol at house parties was part of the problem and the issue of off-licences needed to be “put in the mix” by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) and the Government.
If such measures were put in place people would get the message about what was acceptable and what was not acceptable, he said.
While the gardaí have the power to stand outside a house where a house party was being held, but could not enter the house, Mr O’Donovan said his worry was that despite all the appeals and public health information, a culture had arisen where people thought it was acceptable to hold parties: “It’s not ok.”
Moving to Level 3 and observing the restrictions was “the only way to go” to stop transmission of the virus, he said. “I would ask people to obey the county boundaries.” Every step of the restrictions would have an impact: “It is in our hands to halt this virus.”
House party spread
It comes a professor Joe Barry from the Trinity College School of Medicine said house parties remain a problem in tackling the spread of the virus: “We’re looking at maybe having to go beyond Level 3 and house parties are a problem, there is no doubt about that.
"There is a very eloquent explanation by Dr Breda Smyth from the HSE of how things like this can actually spread quite quickly.”
This evening Dr Breda Smyth @HSELive showed this slide.
It demonstrates how fast #COVID19 spread between people over the course of one weekend - and how important it is to stay home if you're unwell or a close contact of a case.
Make a plan today to limit your social contacts. pic.twitter.com/KtL3965bLP— Department of Health (@roinnslainte) September 30, 2020
Prof Barry referenced an example of the virus' ability to spread outlined by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), which involved one couple’s socialising resulting in 30 new cases.
Dr Breda Smyth, Director of Public Health at HSE West, said the cluster of 30 cases arose after a young couple went away for a weekend and attended a house party.
The house party resulted in six to eight cases, and cases in three to four households. The next day the couple went with friends to a town centre, resulting in four more cases, and visited a bar where six people at an adjacent table and four staff members were infected. They then went on to a “drinks venue”, where four more cases occurred.
