Leo Varadkar has raised the possibility of banning the sale of alcohol after a certain time in the day.
Yesterday, An Taoiseach Micheál Martin called on publicans to "
forget about takeaway pints" as Ireland grapples with the latest wave of Covid-19. While the sale of takeaway alcohol is not illegal, the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) responded by saying that they 'agree with the Taoiseach' and that 'in the current circumstances no pub should be selling takeaway pints for consumption on the streets.'
Speaking to
Pat Kenny on Newstalk this morning, An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that "when it comes to selling takeaway alcohol, that's not illegal. You can get your bottle or wine of bottle of beer, nobody wants to ban that, but it seems that the publicans kind of get around this by serving a pint and putting a lid on it and that's not on."
Varadkar added that "we're certainly going to further enforce the existing ban of people drinking outdoors in public streets. We are looking at other measures then around the sale of alcohol - but it's actually not that straight forward."
When pressed about the possibility of restrictions on alcohol sales, Varadkar said: "What we could potentially do is ban the sale of all alcohol after a certain point of time in the day. It's that type of thing that we're looking at."
Under Level 5 restrictions, pubs and restaurants are allowed sell food for takeaway or delivery only. Under current Irish law, supermarkets and off-licenses are permitted to sell alcohol from 10.30am until 10pm from Monday to Saturday and from 12.30pm until 10pm on Sundays.
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