Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has come under fire after he was caught cleaning his glasses with a face mask during an interview on RTÉ radio.
Minister Ryan was speaking to Claire Byrne on Wednesday morning following the government’s announcement to postpone the reopening of indoor dining.
Mr Ryan was discussing the threat of the Delta variant and the proposal from NPHET that would see only fully vaccinated people allowed to dine indoors when the sector reopens.
The clip of Minister Ryan has been shared widely on social media with some people blasting the Transport Minister while others have jumped to his defence.
One tweet read: "Are we just going ignore the fact Eamon Ryan was cleaning his glasses with his mask.”
While another user asked: “How can we take this government seriously?”
Other Twitter users defended Minister Ryan and said he was distracted and others admitted it’s easy to make such a “mistake.”
A spokesman for Minister Ryan said: "RTÉ's Covid guidelines state that a presenter or guest may remove their face covering during an interview once other safety protocols are being followed such as maintaining social distance and practicing hand hygiene."
The government has defended the decision to not proceed with reopening indoor hospitality as NPHET have warned that the Delta variant could see over 2,000 deaths in Ireland between now and September.
Publicans and restaurateurs still do not have a definite date for reopening admitting it’s “still up in the air.”
However, they are aiming to reopen on July 19 and do not want to police customers and ask them to prove they are fully vaccinated with a Corona pub pass.
