A restaurateur has hit out and senior politicians and medical staff for empathising with him, suggesting 'they haven't a clue'.
It comes amid speculation over the opening of restaurants as part of the easing of level five restrictions next week.
Paul Treyvaud is owner of Treyvaud's Restaurant in Killarney.
He told Lunchtime Live there is a lot of frustration in the sector over the uncertainty surrounding restrictions.
"I reckon that every restaurant, when we eventually do get to open, will have potato and leek soup on every menu with amount of leaks that are going around.
"It's never been more frustrating than sitting here waiting for our wonderful Government and powers that be to meet and say 'Right lads, here's what we're going to do'.
"And they're going to do this on Thursday - they thankfully said they're going to release it before the 'Late, Late Toy Show' so at least we'll be able to enjoy that.
"But it's pathetic - and it's the only way to describe it now at this stage - that every restauranteur and countless other industries that are siting here waiting.
"It's as if we're begging to find out what can we do: can we open, can we close, what are we doing? It is beyond frustrating."
'You have no idea what it's like'
"I'm just following a lot of very good restauranteurs that I would seriously respect - I can see how frustrated, their heads are wrecked, they just don't know what to do anymore.
"And when you hear a senior politician, or even the CMO of Ireland, turn around and say 'We understand your frustration' - I'm sorry, but you don't.
"You get to get up and got to work in the morning, you get to get your full salary in the morning - I wouldn't begrudge anyone a salary cut - you get to see your colleagues in work every day.
"You have no idea what it's like for your colleagues to have lost their jobs, to be under enormous financial pressure."
He also said a large amount of foreign workers have gone home "cause they just went 'What's the point?'.
"So there's nothing worse than hearing from these guys that they know exactly how we feel: they haven't a clue.
"And again here we go for another week of 'Is Leo [Varadkar] going to come out and leak something, is Micheál Martin, is the paper?' - where are they getting all this information from?
"Just picture so many people sitting at home reading this nonsense day in, day out and nobody has a clue until we get to hear on Thursday".
Restaurateurs have been told that case numbers need to be at around 200 per day in order to re-open next week.
The average number of cases reported each day over the last five days is 360.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) is meeting a day earlier than planned this week, on Wednesday, as discussions on exiting level five continue.
Government party leaders are also meeting on Monday to discuss exiting level five, while the Cabinet will meet on Tuesday morning as usual.
Cabinet will then meet on either Thursday or Friday to discuss NPHET's recommendations - however it is believed the preference is to make an announcement before Friday.
The main sticking point around exiting level five appears to be around pubs and restaurants.
