A pub in Winchester (United Kingdom), August 4, 2020. -

CHINA NOUVELLE / SIPA

All pubs reopened on Monday in Ireland after six months of closure to fight the spread of the new coronavirus, except in the capital Dublin, where contamination is increasing.

All the 7,000 pubs in Ireland had closed their doors on March 16, on the eve of Saint Patrick, due to the confinement established in the country.

On June 29, those which serve to eat had already been able to reopen, unlike those which are only used for drinking, the “wet pubs”, to the chagrin of the profession which railed against what it calls the most confinement. long in the European Union.

Some Irish people took a day off to take advantage

At the “Boomerang Bar” in Bray (south of Dublin), customers came in droves on their lunch break.

“Some even posed a day off!

Laughs Sandie Stanley, who runs the pub with her husband Derek.

“They have planned to be here to celebrate the reopening with us, it's really lovely”.

Inside the establishment, around thirty clients sip their pints, surrounded by bottles of hydroalcoholic gel.

And it is armed with visors and blue polo shirts bearing the motto "Physically remote, socially connected" that the staff serve drinks.

The government confirmed last week that all pubs could reopen on Monday across the country, except those that serve only to drink in the capital Dublin, which has become the epicenter of new infections.

Dublin remains under surveillance

According to the restrictions in force, no one must cross the limits of the agglomeration except for "professional, educational reasons" and other "essential" reasons.

Indoor gatherings are prohibited, home visits restricted.

“Despite the efforts of the people in recent weeks, we find ourselves in a very dangerous position,” Prime Minister Micheal Martin said in a televised address, “there is a very real threat that Dublin will end up as in the worst of days of the crisis ”.

Under the restrictions, in effect for three weeks, only pubs serving al fresco dining or take out may open in Greater Dublin.

A total of 1,792 dead

Willie Aherne, owner and manager of the Palace Bar, tries to cope, serving up to 15 customers on his terrace.

But three other establishments he knows do not have this possibility and "are tearing their hair out", he told AFP, deploring the "domino effect" that this will also have on "the butcher who delivers the meat or the early ".

The virus has killed 1,792 people in Ireland, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health.

The daily death toll reached a peak of 77 in mid-April, and remains single-digit in recent weeks, even as infections are on the rise.

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