“What I said was wrong and I am sorry for it.”

Cork pub owner Tony Campion, who runs the Silver Key Bar and Restaurant in Ballinlough, has made a public apology following comments he made regarding Covid.

Campion was secretly filmed talking about his receipt of government money throughout the pandemic, and could be heard saying: “Covid has to go on for another 10 years so I can get my house in Barbados.”

In the video, he also says: “My payroll is about €18-and-a-half “k” per week. It was about €32k a week. And the Irish government gives me €15,000 back every week in a Government subsidy.”

Mr. Campion has now apologised for the remarks, claiming that “they say that when the drink is in, the sense is out, and boy has that wise old phrase echoed so loudly for me over the past few days.”

Campion said he believed that the comments were “inebriated banter” between friends, that he did not know he was being filmed, and that since the remarks have been uploaded he has been “abused and threatened.”

“What I said was wrong and I am sorry for it. I have been under a lot of anxiety and stress since the death of my father and mother-in-law – all happening during Covid. Letting off steam like this was one of my ways of coping with it, although totally inappropriate.”

“I understand that many people have also suffered terribly during the pandemic and I wholeheartedly apologise for any upset caused to anyone by my comments.”