Coronavirus: Irish pubs and restaurants resume indoor service
- Published
Happy customers have been enjoying drinks or meals as indoor service has resumed
Irish pubs and restaurants have resumed indoor service after the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.
Many pubs, especially those that do not serve food, have been closed since March 2020.
As the industry reopens, customers have been reminded of the new guidelines.
Customers, including those from Northern Ireland, must have official proof they have been fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 within the last 180 days.
For the overwhelming majority of people in the Republic, they will prove eligibility through the EU's Digital Covid Cert with its QR codes.
Customers must show proof of immunity, either full vaccination or a that they have recovered from Covid recently
Every adult must also bring along official identification such as a driving licence with a photo.
The president of the Restaurant Association of Ireland, Mark McGowan, said it was his understanding that the Northern Ireland vaccination card will be accepted as proof of immunity at venues in the Republic.
"Once valid proof of immunity is shown at the door along with photographic evidence, that will be sufficient. It has to be an official id and official vaccination cert. We want tourists from the north coming down".
The Digital Covid Certificate is being rolled out across EU member states in July
The lead person at a table or a solo customer will be asked to give his or her name for contact-tracing purposes.
Once inside, there will be a limit of six adults per table, no bar service and, customers can only remove their masks once seated.
Children will be allowed indoors and premises must close by 23:30.
Not all pubs and restaurants will reopen.
Some owners have complained that they have not been given enough time to hire and train staff to comply with the new guidelines.
County Donegal publican Kevin Kavanagh is among those who say the guidance from government has come too late for him to start serving indoors again on Monday.
"I am not fully vaccinated myself, my sister and a few other staff are not fully vaccinated, so we just cannot take the chance," he told BBC Radio Foyle.
'Make it work'
"Early Saturday morning, about 1 o'clock I got an email with the guidelines set out. It is more or less impossible for us to open. Our government, I think have let us down again".
The last year has been "extremely tough and very frustrating" for Ireland's hospitality sector, he added.
Letterkenny restaurateur Carol Meenan said it was an "exciting day". She said she hopes customers will be patient as staff come to terms with the new regulations.
Verifying identification and proof of vaccination "will be a full-time job at the door", she said.
"We are going to have a lot of logistics to get through and it might be a bit of a slow time coming through the door. But we are so happy to get open and get a little bit of normality back", she said.
Clare McDonough and Ann Blake were among the first customers through the doors at tea rooms in Letterkenny.
"It is fantastic, we were just saying it's a bit of a novelty," Clare said.
"But it is really lovely to be able to see people, nice just to sit down in familiar surroundings and be back feeling like it is normal again."
Indoor diners in Letterkenny said it was fantastic to feel "normal again".
Café owner Brendan McGlynn said reopening "feels really good" despite some late changes to the government guidelines.
"Yesterday we had to take everybody's name, now today we don't have to, just from the lead person of the table.
"But I am looking forward to getting customers in again. There is a nice feeling about it," he said.
Padraig Cribben, chief executive of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland said " a lot of challenges lie ahead" for the sector.
"It is certainly a day of relief for many businesses that haven't operated for almost 500 days, since March of last year. But it is relief mixed with a certain element of anxiety, anxiety around how customers are going to react".
'Significant day'
Mr McGowan, from the Restaurants Association of Ireland, said it was a "very significant day for hospitality across the country", adding that the "biggest issue" for business owners was staffing levels.
He also said the new guidelines were published at "the 11th hour" and "it is too short notice".
The chief executive of the Health Service Executive (HSE), Paul Reid, urged people in a tweet to safely embrace the reopening and "make it work".
He also said 83% of adults were partially vaccinated and over 68% fully vaccinated.
For most people the return of indoor hospitality is a welcome development, a sunny glimmer of hope in the slow return to what was once normality.
- Published24 July 2021
- Published12 July 2021
