A pub owner has hit out at plans to stall the final phase of the COVD-19 re-opening.
Phase four has been pushed back from July 20th to August 10th as the number of cases rise.
Pauline Fay of Fay’s Bar told The Hard Shoulder: "I'm absolutely livid, what do they take us for?
"When this pandemic started, the numbers were going up and up and up.
"There was nobody shouting about 'close Dunnes Stores, Tescos, Lidl, Aldi'.
"And now because they went up a little bit, and we all knew it was going to go up, because the airports are open.
"We're allowing Americans in, we're allowing whoever wants in, we're allowing them all in - of course it's going to go up.
"And now we're saying 'Oh the pubs, the pubs have to be closed' - they're going to jump out at you as soon as you go into the pubs... nonsense, absolutely nonsense".
She said it is not just about missing the summer season, but also: "What do we do for money? Live on fresh air till August?
"We spent a lot of money doing up the pub, I did anyway."
"The doctors told us all - the places where they were serving food - told that you had to have 15 minutes to wash down eat seat and sterilise this and sterilise that between each customer.
"I'm after coming from one of the top hospitals in Dublin, I walked around and I moved from chair to chair just to see how many people would come running to sterilise each seat that I moved from: I didn't see anybody.
"We pulled up in a eating house - I'm not going to say [the name] - but I had to get a cloth to clean the chair, I said 'Jesus Christ, what the hell?'
"'Sterilising, we're going to clean, we're doing this, we're doing that' - the numbers are not going up.
"What about closing the airport? What about closing all these house parties?"
"It'll be a waste of time opening up if it keeps going on and on and on.
"People have and are fed up.
"I have been talking to customers all week, I was out painting the front of the pub - and what do they want us to do?
"Crucify us altogether".
"There's an awful difference between the pub and a nightclub - my main customers are all over 50, what good would they be doing at a nightclub for God's sake?
"You're talking about lads of 50, 60, 70... they're only small country pubs.
"If they want to keep the pubs closed, then close the pubs that's already open".
The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) has described the decision to postpone the re-opening of pubs as a 'hammer blow' for these businesses.
It says this means their members will go 40% of the year without trading.
They say compensation and support is "now essential" if the Government wants the sector to survive.
LVA Chief Executive Donall O’Keeffe said: "From the outset of this crisis, pubs have put public health considerations first.
"We have repeatedly acknowledged the gravity of the COVID-19 crisis and as an industry we have respected the need to act for the wider good of Irish society during this pandemic.
"This is a crushing blow for the sector, but we will continue to respect the public health advice.
“This is a hammer blow for our industry. It does appear that pubs are being singled out.
"Pubs were first closed and last to re-open. No other part of the domestic economy is still shut."
He added: "If the public health requirements involve the Government treating pubs as a special case, then we’re also going to need special treatment."
"Specifically, there must be immediate additional grant aid for pubs, based on their licence band.
"When these pubs re-open, the Wage Subsidy Scheme must remain in place for as long as social restrictions apply.
"There must be a cut on the VAT rate on on-trade alcohol until year-end to allow the businesses boost their margins and have some chance of viability.
"Commercial rates must be abolished for 2020 in light of this extended closure."
