RENOWNED hypnotist, magician and mentalist Keith Barry predicts that pubs will reopen by June - far earlier than the vaccination rollout is due for completion.
The psychic and popular TV personality was speaking on Radio FM104 when a listener, Derek, asked "will I get in a pub in June with the lads?".
To this question, that will have left pub enthusiasts shushing and reaching for the volume knob, Barry responded without hesitation, "absolutely, yes" – Dublin live reports.
Waterford native Barry was so confident, in fact, that he doubled down on his prediction and gave a precise date: "I'm going to say yes. I'm going to give a date, my prediction is June 1st, we're back in the pubs."
He went on to clarify: "Not physically, obviously, but definitely in the beer gardens and probably up to about 15 people inside the pub. That's my prediction."
In addition to drawing upon his psychic abilities, Barry’s optimism may have been spurred on by more terrestrial influences as Taoiseach Micheal Martin relayed some promising lockdown news on live on RTE this week.
The Fianna Fail leader gave assurances that Ireland would be in a much "different space" by the middle of 2021 – with a view to possibly easing restrictions by summer.
Despite recent speedbumps in the supply chain, Mr Martin has pinned his hopes for a steady return to some kind of normal national life on the rollout of the Covid vaccine.
Speaking on RTE's Prime Time on Thursday, the Taoiseach said that while the country has met its preliminary vaccination targets, it was no time to get complacent.
"We've basically administered what we have received in. The variant is a problem, and in terms of the variant or the mutation of the virus we have to look differently in terms of how we manage that”, he said.
