The head of the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) says the Government has 'shredded' its own medium-term roadmap for re-opening, with the closure of the hospitality sector in Dublin.
Donall O'Keeffe says 52,000 people were laid off overnight in the capital due to it being placed on level three restrictions.
As part of the changes for Dublin, restaurants and cafés - including bars serving food - can open for take-away, delivery and outdoor dining to a maximum of 15 people.
So-called 'wet pubs' remain closed.
Mr O'Keeffe told Newstalk Breakfast the sector was already on its knees.
"I'd say it's one of quiet desperation - the roadmap that was announced by Government has been shredded by the Government inside three days.
"We saw the wet pubs in Dublin not being allowed to be re-opened, even though a commitment was given just the previous week.
"We see the wet pubs essentially on level five and we now have a full lockdown in all but name of our sector, despite the recent claims that we're in level three as a capital city."
"The hospitality sector is essentially in lockdown, 52,000 people were laid off overnight - it's an incredible amount of people that are now faced with a hugely uncertain future.
"And obviously the wider hospitality sector was on its knees anyway: it was closed for three and a half months from March through to the end of June.
"We were just building a very slow recovery in a very difficult trading environment - no international tourism in our city, lots of people working from home, office capacity at very, very low levels, public transport capacity very, very low - so footfall in the city in the evening was very weak anyway, and now we're facing another three weeks of closure.
"We know the Government have announced a support package, but the details of how that'll be made available to businesses is simply not clear yet.
"But it's a devastating blow for a sector that's had a very traumatic 2020.
"A full one-third of Dublin pubs have not traded since the 15th of March, they've made no contribution to infection levels in Dublin, they have not been the source of the problem.
"They've been closed for 189 days as we speak and now another 21 days of closure to come.
"The impact to employment, the impacts to publicans, their families, their staff, their suppliers, the wider economic impact to the city is enormous".
"It's just devastating and it's such a shock because 48 hours ago we didn't believe the wider hospitality sector in Dublin was going to be closed down".
