Kerry restaurateur: 'Absolute carnage this winter when so many will go bust'

Paul Treyvaud, owner of Treyvaud’s Restaurant in Killarney: “The biggest blow to my peers was hearing the Taoiseach repeatedly state that we were deemed nonessential." Picture: Sally MacMonagle

A Kerry restaurateur says his industry has been “tarnished with the blame” for the prevalence of Covid-19 in Ireland and must not “be used as scapegoats any longer”.

Paul Treyvaud, owner of Treyvaud’s Restaurant in Killarney, said that prior to Ireland’s second lockdown last October, many restaurants, including his own, decided to remain closed rather than risk the cost of a quick reopening followed by an equally rapid return to lockdown.