A fortnight ago, when I raised with the Tánaiste the issue of pubs reopening he said that NPHET had not at that time been asked to advise on my suggestion that pubs could potentially reopen on the same basis as restaurants, that is, with social distancing, time limits and table service. They would be acting as restaurants but without having to serve food. This is particularly important for rural pubs where, as the Tánaiste knows, numbers at the best of times are low and in many areas pubs are the hubs of local communities. Has NPHET had time in the meantime to consider that work or has it been asked to do so? Can the Tánaiste tell us when a decision is likely to be made on this?

The Cabinet will meet on Tuesday next week to make a decision on whether we can move to phase 4 or something like it. We do not have the formal advice from NPHET on that yet. That depends on two things, first, the numbers of new cases of the virus over the last couple of days and the next couple of days and, second, any particular bespoke arrangements or guidelines that might be put in place to allow particular sectors to open. We would all like to see the pubs opened with social distancing and to see people able to attend much bigger outdoor gatherings, particularly football and hurling matches. We are all keen for that to be possible but we will have to take into account NPHET advice on those specific settings and on how we are doing in terms of the number of new cases, clusters and so on. We will not have that advice until just before the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday and we will be able to make an announcement at that point.