Publican plans to stay closed – to protect unvaccinated staff

The threat posed to unvaccinated young members of staff has led to an Oranmore publican deciding against reopening for indoor hospitality – even after vaccine passports are introduced.

Seán Ó Máille, owner of Glynn’s Bar in Oranmore, said he and his wife Anna ‘couldn’t forgive ourselves’ if a member of staff were to catch Covid while working.

Mr Ó Máille said thanks to a significant investment in an outdoor area ahead of June’s reopening, they had been able to make a decision to remain closed for indoor operations until such a time that staff were protected from Covid.

“Our staff, they’re nearly all between 18 and 30, so they’re in that group that hasn’t been vaccinated yet. We felt that morally, it wouldn’t be right to open indoors.

“Thankfully, we have a very adequate outside area under a pergola that we had put in before reopening in June. I can understand that other places don’t have that option – and that’s not to say anything against them – but for us, this felt like the right thing to do,” said Mr Ó Máille.

Having spoken to all the staff as details of the Government’s plan to allow vaccinated patrons and their children dine indoors were revealed, he said there were mixed feelings and several employees felt at risk if they were to proceed as proposed on Monday next.

“All the staff came to us. Some didn’t have an issue because they’d be wearing masks and all the rest, but others said they didn’t feel comfortable.

“None of them put us under any pressure and they know we’d be reasonable and would take that into consideration, but we felt it’s an employers responsibility to look after their staff and because we had spent the money on the outdoor area and it’s going well, we decided to stick with that,” said Mr Ó Máille.

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