Covid-19: Irish government passes indoor hospitality legislation

The Irish health minister said he hopes the new system would help indoor hospitality businesses reopen safely

The Irish government has narrowly won a vote on its plan to allow people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to eat and drink in indoor venues.

New legislation to set up a vaccine verification system passed in the Dáil (Irish parliament) by 74 votes to 68.

The aim is to allow restaurants, pubs and cafes to serve customers indoors if they can prove they have received both jabs or have recovered from Covid-19.

Opponents expressed concern that it discriminates against the unvaccinated.

However, the Health (Amendment No.2) Bill 2021 has now passed all its stages in the Dáil and will be put before the Seanad (Senate) for consideration.

Proof of vaccination will soon be required for customers to enter indoor venues, either paper documentation or via an EU digital Covid certificate.

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• Irish restaurants, pubs and gyms reopen

The government has introduced legislation for a vaccine verification system at considerable pace, having already delayed its plan to reopen bars and restaurants earlier this month.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly had told the Dáil that the government is taking a "sensible and balanced approach" to reopening indoor hospitality.

"Let's get people back to work," he said, adding that the new system would help businesses reopen safely.

Opponents of the bill included Richard Boyd Barrett of the People Before Profit party, who expressed concern that a vaccine pass system was inoperable and discriminatory.

"The health status or vaccination status of somebody should not determine their rights to access basic things in our society," Mr Boyd Barrett told the Dáil debate.

"And I say that minister as somebody who is an enthusiastic - and our entire party are enthusiastic supporters of vaccination - of the vaccination programme that is happening now.

"And indeed I say it in the context of urging everybody out there who is offered a vaccine to take a vaccine, because the vaccination programme is our best chance of getting out of this grim situation we're in."

But the People Before Profit representative added that a vaccine verification system "essentially creates a two-tier society".

'Robust and enforceable'

According to the bill, the legislation allows for a "robust and enforceable system of verification of the health status of certain persons, including vaccination or recovery status".

It will also confer power on the minister for health "to provide for enforcement" of the verification system.

The bill will also extend the Republic of Ireland's system of mandatory hotel quarantine for certain people arriving into the state from overseas until 9 October.

Tánaiste (Ireland's deputy prime minister) Leo Varadkar signalled to his parliamentary party at a meeting on Wednesday night that the bill will be reviewed in September, RTÉ reports.