'There's Nothing I'd Like Better Than a Pint': Irish PM Defends COVID-19 Restrictions

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin told Dáil Éireann, the principal chamber of the Irish legislature, on December 2: “There is nothing I would like better, right now, than a pint in some rural pub in an idyllic village in the west of Ireland.”

Martin was responding to criticism of the government’s restrictions on pubs as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“That is not something I’ll be able to participate in for quite some time yet,” Martin said. “That’s not the fault of government. That’s not the fault of anybody. It’s the fault of a virus, a global pandemic.”

During the session, Martin was accused of “nailing the lid on the coffin on rural Ireland” by opposition deputy Richard O’Donoghue for his government’s rules on pub openings. Credit: Oireachtas TV via Storyful