More and more publicans in Dublin are serving 'takeaway pints' and cocktails again.
This is despite the Taoiseach Micheál Martin's request in January to "forget about takeaway pints" during level five restrictions.
One pub owner told reporter Barry Whyte for Newstalk Breakfast that St Patrick's Day will see a surge in street drinking.
Aidan Brown, who owns Peadar Browns pub on Clanbrassil Street, said: "I see a good few pubs now back doing the takeaway drink and I myself would be against it really.
"A lot of places are just there to make the few bob out of it.
"I think when one or two pubs are doing it just after Christmas, there wasn't much of a deal about it.
"It just seems to be more pubs added to the list every week.
"So come Paddy's Day now on Wednesday, I'd imagine the city centre will probably be packed again [with] people congregating.
"Town is going to be packed again, videos will be going around social media, they're all going to be blaming the pubs, probably blaming the people that are going drinking in the streets.
"But the situation shouldn't be happening - you can't go to get a haircut, you can't go to Dunnes Stores and buy a few clothes - yet you can congregate on a city street and drink as many pints as you want.
"There's no control over it... you're not in the pub, so there's control on anyone - they can do whatever they want".
"It doesn't make any sense to have 1,000 people on South William Street, and yet I can't let 25 people in my pub".
Another publican, who wished not to be named, said he would continue to sell takeaway pints and saw himself as doing nothing wrong.
He also said he saw takeaway alcohol as no different 'to takeaway coffee'.
Gardaí say the sale of alcohol on a takeaway basis is not a breach of COVID-19 regulations.
'Alcohol curfew'
While back in January Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the Government was considering banning the sale of alcohol after a certain time of day.
"We're working on new public health regulations that strengthen the law in this regard around drinking alcohol in public streets, and that will give the Gardaí more powers of enforcement", he explained.
But he said the actual sale of alcohol to takeaway is not the issue.
"When it comes to selling takeaway alcohol, that's not illegal - anybody who's getting their takeaway... you can get your bottle of wine or bottle of beer with that, nobody wants to ban that".
Mr Varadkar said that any move to ban 'takeaway pints' would also see a ban on takeaway alcohol for food takeaways and off licenses.
He added that the Government was examining its options.
"So 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".
