Sinn Féin wants outdoor events to return 'for everybody'
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said this week he would have no issue with festivals like Electric Picnic going ahead for vaccinated people. File picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie
Sinn Féin has called for outdoor concerts to be allowed to proceed in line with public health advice.
Health spokesperson David Cullinane has joined calls for outdoor entertainment to return, even for those who are not vaccinated but who can produce a negative PCR test result.
"I think what's needed is for the Government and government departments to sit down with the stakeholders and engage with the CMO because what we've seen over the last number of days is commentary, rather than solutions," he said.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said this week he would have no issue with festivals like Electric Picnic going ahead for vaccinated people, amid calls for the event to now go ahead.
"We would want to see concerts to go ahead for everybody, and we don't see why testing shouldn't be on the table as well," Mr Cullinane said.
"While the CMO was saying that it should be concerts for vaccinated people, but if you're somebody who isn't vaccinated for whatever reason, and you can get a negative PCR test, you can travel to most places in Europe, attend a concert and come home, so I don't see why testing also can't be part of the solution.
"I would want to see a plan in place for that industry to ensure that we can have these type of events and I think what was problematic over the last number of days, we had the Tánaiste commentating saying that the Attorney General is to give advice.
"No responsibility should be put back on the local authority, the local authority as far as I can see were acting on the advice that they got from the HSE and acting on the public health guidelines which are in place. They have to go through a statutory process."
Mr Cullinane said: "We can't have a situation where any Government representative can put any blame or responsibility back on the local authority. Again it just shows that there's confusion in relation to this who's responsible for what."
Mr Cullinane referenced the recent private party thrown by former minister Katherine Zappone in the Merrion Hotel which the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar attended and turned out to be within guidelines, unbeknownst to much of the hospitality sector.
"Here we are again, they were dealing with these types of issues without any plan whatsoever and promises of something coming down the track, but the industry itself was essentially abandoned with no plan whatsoever.
"I think there's a responsibility on the Government to present a plan, and I would want to see the event go ahead, but I don't think it can, in the timeframe that it is under simply because of the statutory process and I think that's deeply unfortunate."
Mr Cullinane said there was "a collective failure" by Government on live entertainment restrictions.
