Leo Varadkar has slammed Boris Johnson’s decision for “gambling” in announcing an end to lockdown on July 19.
And he defended the move to postpone the reopening of indoor eating and drinking here this week as “the right decision.”
The Tánaiste said the Government here is concerned about the “packed West End theatres” in London and “nightclubs in Manchester packed to the rafters” that he predicts will soon return as a result of the lifting of all restrictions.
He said: “The UK decision was a gamble, quite frankly, a gamble that we were not willing to take.”
Mr Varadkar said the UK’s reopening could lead to a “spillover” because of the significant travel between here and there and this is what has the Government worried.
However, the second in command in Government also said that he wanted people to “avoid a spiral of fear” when it comes to fears about the new Delta variant.
Mr Varadkar said we are in a very different place - because of vaccinations - to where we were in January when the third wave hit.
Hospitalisations are the key indicator now and the modelling suggests they won’t be anywhere near the hundreds a day we were seeing in January.
He said: “I think we made the right decision in Ireland last week to pause the reopening of hospitality.”
Mr Varadkar then added: “What was announced in Britain yesterday was, in my opinion, too risky.
“The prospect of packed theatres in the West End and nightclubs in Manchester packed to the rafters is one that would concern us greatly in this country quite frankly.”
