Pubs and restaurants will definitely not be limited to takeaway for Christmas.
Government leaders have told the Irish Mirror they are not taking NPHET’s full-on advice.
One member of the select committee of the Government’s most senior members told the Mirror leaving the high stakes meeting: “It’s not going to be NPHET, NPHET, NPHET.”
The Irish Mirror met members of each of the three parties, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens as they left Government Buildings just before 10pm, as the Special Cabinet Subcommittee on Covid finished up for the night.
The meeting dragged on far longer than expected and it was eventually adjourned, with the entire Cabinet coming in for the final decision tomorrow.
But it was made clear to the Mirror that the austere advice from the medical hawks at NPHET will not be taken whole.
One of the top Government members told the Mirror: “It was a long and grueling meeting, four and a half hours, bloody hell, and the Cabinet will decide ultimately.”
When asked if pubs and restaurants would only be allowed to takeaway for December, he said: “No, I can tell you that much, no way.
“What I can say is, it’s not going to be NPHET, NPHET NPHET."
Another member of the crunch committee agreed when the Mirror put it to him on his way out of the meeting at 9:40pm tonight.
“The (Cabinet) meeting will decide, but we’ll be taking more than NPHET into account.”
