Irish Examiner view: Let’s balance reopening risks

It is hard to be confident that a reopening might not re-energise the pandemic and provoke a dreaded second wave. 

The chief executive of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland,Pádraig Cribben, expressed the hopes of Ireland’s locked-down publicans when he said that he expects pubs to reopen next Monday.

Outlining the seriousness of the situation for almost 4,000 family businesses that have not sold a drink or a peanut for five months, and who had expected to reopen on July 20, he said that pubs must open on Monday to “have any chance of viability”.