Last Monday pubs that served food were allowed to re-open in the Republic, subject to a number of conditions. These include social distancing being in place, customers pre-booking and staying for a maximum of 1¾ hours, among others.
Gardaí had intended to carry out “spot checks” on pubs to ensure compliance. However, senior Garda officers early last week received reports that some pubs were flouting the public-health measures.to carry out inspections of all pubs under Operative Navigation. The conditions in place that pubs have been asked to adhere to are public-health measures rather than regulations. That means breaching any of the measures is not a crime.
While gardaí do not have the power to close a pub on the spot, if they find pubs not adhering to the Covid-19 public-health measures they can inform the Health &. The HSA can close any workplace under court order on the grounds they pose a risk to the health or safety of employees. In the case of publicans not adhering to the public-health measures, gardaí can also record the breaches and when the publican’s licence comes up for renewal in the courts, gardaí can object to its renewal.