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STAKEHOLDERS ARE PUSHING the government to commit to reopening indoor hospitality by the start of July.
The Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) and the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) want to see the return of indoor dining in pubs and restaurants by 1 July as vaccine rollout progresses.
Publicans say that outdoor dining, which can resume in June, will not allow the industry to recover alone.
The government is expected to make an announcement this week laying out plans for travel, aviation, entertainment, sport and mandatory hotel quarantine as we look into June and July.
Under the current “next steps” plan, the government set out that some higher-risk activities would be considered at the end of June for later in the year, such as indoor hospitality, including restaurants, bars, nightclubs and casinos.
Other higher-risk activities to be considered include indoor team or group sports, mass gatherings and events, and international travel.
Hotels and B&Bs are allowed to reopen on 2 June and can offer indoor restaurant and bar service, but only to overnight guests and residents.
On 7 June, restaurants and bars can resume outdoor dining for groups with a maximum of six people.
VFI Chief Executive Padraig Cribben said that “every day counts for our members and they need to hear from government this week that indoor trading can resume no later than Thursday 1 July”.
“After an horrendous 15 months, it’s great to see the country reopen and publicans along with their staff are certainly looking forward to being part of that process. The successful vaccination programme sends a strong signal that life is returning to something approaching normal,” Cribben said.
“When our pubs do reopen they must follow strict social distancing guidelines and we are asking Government to get those guidelines published immediately so our members can begin preparations,” he said.
“Our members are looking forward to reopening for outdoor trading on 7 June but that is only the first step. The Government must bring finality to what has been a catastrophic period for the trade by announcing pubs can fully reopen no later than 1 July.”
Similarly, Chief Executive of the LVA Donall O’Keeffe said the “success of the vaccine rollout is completely changing the picture when it comes to the pandemic”.
“The tremendous effort of our health service and health care workers in delivering the vaccine is making a major difference on a daily basis. Hospital admissions are reducing and the number of people in ICU has also fallen considerably,” O’Keeffe said.
“Thankfully this success also makes it safer for other activity to resume, including indoor hospitality service,” he said.
While we welcome the fact that outdoor hospitality will return in another couple of weeks, unfortunately not all pubs and restaurants will be in a position to provide service of that nature. Outdoor is a very short term solution to facilitate some resumption of activity but it certainly won’t allow for the recovery of the hospitality industry and full resumption of employment in the sector. That is why everyone in our industry is keenly awaiting confirmation for when we can open our doors for indoor hospitality.
In Northern Ireland, outdoor dining was permitted to reopen earlier this month, and indoor hospitality can reopen tomorrow.
The VFI and LVA want to see pubs here allowed to follow suit.
“This week pubs in the North will reopen indoors, three weeks after outdoor trading started there. We have said all along that pubs in the Republic should follow the same timeline, which would see our members reopen indoors by 1 July,” Cribben said.
“We can’t have a two-tier pub sector on the island for longer than a couple of weeks as already people are crossing the border to socialise. As we remain on course to have the vast majority of the population receive their first vaccination by the end of June, it follows that a full reopening of pubs should then be permitted,” he said.
O’Keeffe said that “given that indoor service will be allowed in hotels and guesthouses from 2nd June and in all hospitality settings in Northern Ireland from Monday, we believe it would be reasonable that indoor service should resume no later than 1 July”.
HSE CEO Paul Reid has said that around 45% of adults in Ireland have received a first dose of a vaccine against Covid-19.
Over 15% are fully vaccinated.
“Our focus on protecting the public through vaccination remains unrelenting. Without the impacted data from GPs, we’ve likely well over 2.3m vaccines administered,” Reid said yesterday.
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The fact pubs are being left that long without being allowed to reopen for indoor drinks and dining, while hotels are allowed open fully a whole month later is just mind boggling. Where do the likes of the ESRI think we will find the extra taxes that are meant to pay for things, when we still have two industries in hospitality and aviation effectively stopped from reopening fully till July or August, cos the government are flip flopping while NPHET are going full dark clouds. All I can say is I’m gonna be hiding under the table come the budget in October cos it’s going to be a bad one, despite what some wanna believe
@Michael Healy: Well Germany have banned flights from the UK, the indian variant is a dark cloud for sure. The WHO though have released promising data with regards to vaccine efficacy a and NPHET will do their due dilligence.
I have to say, with regards to fearmongering it’s people like yourself who are constantly whipping up fear by always bringing it up. When NPHET say they care concerned or a dark cloud.
People like you go on and talk about it being a hand grenade all doom and gloom. Really whipping up that fear.
Whereas most people just see it as a genuine concern.
@Ally Mc Culladgh: Pfizer vaccine 88% effective against the Indian variant after 2 doses but don’t let facts get in the way of your nonsense.
@Paddy Kennedy: Ally is one of those who will be devastated when covid is not in the news everyday. Thrives on misery
@Paddy Kennedy: a lot of us got Astra ,my second one is on July 31st and another 2 weeks to be fully covered
@Ally Mc Culladgh: I dont see people packed into hotel bars like sardines. Breathing on top of each other . No pubs should not open yet imo.
@Marie Broomfield: Better tell the Vintner’s Association that they can only reopen when you give them the green light so.
@Darren Lambe: Hey Darren, I’m not on here everyday like alot of people who have been since the start of the pandemic, I think its the likes of Michael who comments on every covid article going, they’ll be devastated for sure
@Paddy Kennedy: well they don’t appear to accept they can open when the government tells them so maybe Marie will have more luck with them.
@Paddy Kennedy: Yes and I said NPHET will do their due diligence also :) But don’t let the bias of hating on NPHET get in your way :)
@Paddy Kennedy: it was her opinion imo stands for in my opinion. Don’t be so rude paddy. You do your side of the argument no favours.
@Ally Mc Culladgh: The government needs & hopefully will give a clear roadmap to come out of restrictions. It is not simply a black and white issue of protecting against getting Covid. Lots of issues were created due to our necessary Covid response such as young adults working from home, mental health issues, school dropout, teenagers running feral, dropout in sport, loneliness, hopelessness, anxiety and much more. We initially did this to reduce hospital admissions and therefore deaths. This is not a problem anymore do why bother? It’s time to get back to living our lives.
@Darren Lambe: It’s the drama they all feed on …. However, when the OTT drama around Covid ceases, they can all go back to watching Eastenders ….
@Ally Mc Culladgh: Amazing that NPHET can’t just accept the WHO research as opposed to saying they have to rubber stamp it. It’s almost as if NPHET think that their opinion and research supersedes that of the WHO. Either that of their sense of self importance has gone through the roof, sure look at how well they handled Cervical Check.
Hopefully Tony won’t be threatening to sue people when the next HSE scandal breaks.
@Paddy Kennedy: Or could be they will carry out their own due diligence, nothing wrong with that….calm down paddy.
@Paddy Kennedy: she’s always on here with same nonsense, surprised she can see her phone screen under her bed. Vaccines are effective against the ‘Indian’ variant, stop relying on NEPHET/RTE for news Ally.
@Ally Mc Culladgh: You haven’t explained why the have to carry out their own due diligence though? Does theirs outweigh the WHO? It’s a simple yes or no answer.
@Marie Broomfield: If you were depending on them to make a living, pay the bills or put food on the table you wouldnt be so cavalier. Maybe give a thought to the many who have been closed for over 15 months.
@Ally Mc Culladgh: ill be devastated when the lockdown fanatics and NPHET disciples have to come back the real world when everything reopens and we can finally stop talking about covid…..
@Paddy Kennedy: mute her paddy, she’s a troll
Plenty of cases before in meat plants , hospitals, house parties…. but i never heard one that came from a pub, yet these were the ones that were villified and scapegoated, any pub i went into last year had all the social distancing messures put in place , more so than any shop or hospital i visited or house party i attended.
People simply doing their best to keep their business open.
For the likes of the owl fellas and spinsters , who used to go down every morning for their paper and chat, this was all they had, open them up to f==€ , if anyone feels threatened , just dont go.
@Sean Brannigan: agree we need to move beyond nanny state and let people decide risk and take personal responsibility.
@Sean Brannigan: Spinster? Yikes! That’s a dangerous word I haven’t heard in years. Suprised it made it through the Journal’s filters being on the list of naughty words you can’t say in public anymore without having opprobrium heaped upon you. Do you mean ‘owl fella’ as in ‘oul’ Jem is a tough old bird…’ or oul’ lads who sit at the bar and whose feathers are easily ruffled if you sit in their seat? Either way re-opening can’t happen soon enough…
@Sean Brannigan: so what you’re saying is, seeing as no cases emanated from pubs, that in fact closing them was an effective solution to mitigate against the spread of the virus.
@Dave Hammond: there is the problem a lot are not being responsible and reintroducing to the community
@Dave Hammond: yes David. Let people take personal responsibility until they get ill and then need public services to intervene and support or does your brand of personal responsibility also envision them not accessing treatment unless they take personal responsibility and pay for it too? All business operates under the rules of the state. What im sick and tired of hearing is lobby groups with a sense of entitlement telling the country what it should do (which always seems to align with their profits) and then wrapping it up in some charade about varing for society and jobs. They’ll open when they’re allowed open on decision of the government with health advice hopefully being a bigger factor than their profits. If you’re that hard up for a drink then go to the supermarket and get some. Country is awash with alcohol so we’re not short of a drink or 2.
@Sean Brannigan: The sxxt only hit the fan last year when the schools reopened. The dry pubs open all Summer, no problems
@Sean Brannigan: So you are saying you went to hospitals, pubs and house parties! Very considerate of you.
@Sean Brannigan: Couldn’t agree more, the way NPHET and some government ministers went on, you’d have sworn that they were responsible for Covid in the first place. Like Sean has said, we have never been told how many cases originated in pubs or restaurants, instead it was just a case of you’re closing, and no arguments. The hospitality industry has been treated disgracefully by this government, and hopefully they will get their revenge some day.
@Gerard Smith: What I’m sick and tired of is “entitled” people like you who thinks every publican is a millionaire. That they can afford to be closed for 15+months with no financial hardships. Take your head out of your a@#e and have some compassion. Have it for the man/woman who can’t sleep at night worrying how they will pay their mortgage, heating, electricity, put food on the table to feed their kids and many other financial outgoings they have. Wondering how much longer they can continue not earning or if they will ever be able to open again. It would be nice if sanctimonious people like you would get of your selfish high horse and realise their are hardworking ordinary people behind these establishments.
It is really surprising that so many people accept NPHET’s strategies based on concerns about things that might happen. Concern is not science. NPHET stopped following the science a long time ago and were allowed do that because no one in Govt or media was smart enough to ask the right questions. We have become a nation of worriers led by worriers and advised by worriers. The vaccine is now protecting the vulnerable. Open Ireland and let us live with covid.
@Neil Neart: the vaccine is not protecting society in general until we reach a certain level of roll out. And concern is absolutely scientific. Its risk management. What is not science is your post with generalisms about being “a nation of worriers”. Have you evidence for this? Any peer reviewed studies? Facts? Didn’t think so, just generalisms and opinions. I’ll take the advice of a scientist over that any day thanks very much.
@Gerard Smith: How is it not protecting society in general when CMO stated that death to case ratio has drooped from 10 per 1000 to 1 per 1000 through vaccinations????
@Neil Neart: And when did you become a scientist yourself?
@Paul Keenan: so you’re willing to accept certain information the CMO provides but reject others? Vaccines are currently being applied for by 46 to 49 Yr age group. That still leaves a large part of the population unvaccinated. These people are still open to infection (including infection from people already vaccinated). At the current rate of vaccination we should have sufficient levels vaccinated to relax more rules late summer. Considering how long we have been at this a few more weeks of caution seems to me to be eminently sensible. The CMO also referenced levels of people being vaccinated being an important factor in opening up more services on may occassions. Was this information simply not as important? Or is it inconvenient? You can’t take half the information to suit a narrative. I completely understand people being fed up of the current situation but I’ll take my information from a scientist over a lobby group any day.
@Gerard Smith: So how exactly is it following science allowing indoor dining in hotels but not in bars and restaurants????
@Paul Keenan: It only applies to residents of the hotel so there is no footfall of general public and therefore there is an reduced risk of community transmission compared to a pub for example. The point of the staggered openings has got to do with mass interactions of public. You open one section, monitor and understand the incidence rate which allows you to predict what will happen for the next phase of opening. You dont do it all together and you do the ones with the least risk first (hotels = limited number of residents all staying in the same location anyway versus a pub where any member of the public can attend any pub). Its a reasonable and scientific approach. We are talking 4 to 5 weeks of a difference in opening times of both business types here not months. Lobby groups are never happy unless they get exactly what they want.
@Gerard Smith: But they have already done this in other countries without spikes, why do we have to monitor it again here, we are literally ignoring the scientific data from other countries by thinking that it will turn out different here. Its the same old abundance of caution over and over again, the delay in outdoor dining when people have been doing it unofficially for months now without spikes, can you not see how absurd it is
@Gerard Smith: the government have admitted there is no scientific or medical advice to keep restaurants and bars closed. You do understand residents are members of the general public who have just made a reservation and paid for the privilege. Opening restaurants and bars would encourage people to enjoy a meal and a drink locally however the current approach encourages people to travel from all parts of the country to mix witin one enclosed environment. No hotel has a restaurant or bar designed to deal with full resident occupancy. A 200 bedroom hotel now can theoretically have 400 people from all over the country requiring breakfast/lunch/ dinner and drinks withun one setting which was never designed to hold that quantity
@Gerard Smith: 1/2 scientists are the new priests, you just can’t question them.
Scientists aren’t these infallible beings, they’re humans just like the rest of us. All they are are people who apply the scientific method to figure out the best course of action. But there’s not always a scientific backing for a decision and two scientists can come to different conclusions when faced with a decision. For example two scientists might be presented with the scientific fact that covid is dangerous and infectious. They’re both aware of the margin of error regarding the fact they were presented with. One is advising a lockdown while the other believes that the negatives outway the benefits of lockdown (economic downturns, mental hardships, loss of other health services).
@Gerard Smith: 2/2 there’s no way of knowing for sure who’s right and there may never be as you can’t definitely collect data for a reality that didn’t play out. So in the absence of a complete data set we have to use guess work. Which is exactly what Nphet is engaged in.
And what’s more I’m not sure Nphet is following the science even as much as it’s possible to. Correct me if I’m wrong but do they publish supporting data for all recommendations? I saw an article highlighting the fact that their mins of meeting simply said something like “closing the boarder was discussed” with no backing for their recommendation. I know everyone’s an expert online and it’s frustrating but I’m so tired of everyone fawning over “scientists” and supposed supporting scientific data which just isn’t there.
Pints. Creamy pints
Massive cross border activity to be expected now in border counties.
@James McCartney: my sister was up in Belfast last night and said the amount of southern cars round was crazy. And the fact pubs here aren’t even being allowed open for the June Bank Holiday weekend for outdoor dining is gonna send plenty north as well
@Michael Healy: they are still being nanny state around alcohol and bank holidays in the Republic – the govt are miscalculating the risks imo – they should open more places and have them open 24 hours where possible to spread out the people as widely as possible – instead they aree going to send clusters of people up north – to belfast – clusters in private house parties – clusters in all sorts of ‘illegal gatherings ‘ in the name of public health and it’s nonsense – the vax program is making great progress but that shouldnt be the answer to every question put to the govt – when can we reopen indoor activities – ‘well the vaccine program is making great progress actually’.
@Dave Hammond: so have you factored in normal life into this “24 hr opening = spreading the risk” panacea? Let’s deduct the 8 hrs a day many people are still working whether at home or not, let’s deduct the 8 hours sleep the majority of our population still need. A huge proportion of those who fall into those brackets do so within the normal business hours and normal sleeping hours. So the simple act of normal life itself will naturally condense the attendance at these 24 hr opening pubs to a certain few hours during each day and naturally have higher and closer contact situations during those times. Yes, the vax programme is now doing well and we can now start thinking about opening in terms of weeks rather than months. Let the vax programme do its work and then open cautiously and monitor.
Never seen a more impatient lobby group than publicans in a pandemic. Open when its time, wait your turn. If the whole thing spreads around again from early reopening of indoor establishments it’ll be back to square one and then they will moan again for eternity. You got the outdoor dining, take what you can get!
@Paul Cunningham: You’re some gowl.
@Paul Cunningham: impatient, most closed now for almost 16 months???? Have you heard of the mass vaccination campaign???? Have you seen Israel and the US, massive increase in cases since indoor dining was permitted, oh wait no there wasn’t, but sure we ll stay closed out of an abundance of caution
@Paul Cunningham: The country is being led by worriers, advised by worriers who are basing their strategy on irrational worries. Worries are not science. NPHET consistently refused to publish the science and the models behind their advice to allow peer review. The vulnerable have been vaccinated. They are safe. It’s time to stop worrying and live with covid.
@Robert Clifford: Robert can’t argue a point so resorts to name calling.
@Paul Cunningham: muppet
@Paul Keenan: Israel and USA have more people vaccinated
@Kevin Thompson: Yes but they are open months now
@Paul Cunningham: so your saying they should allow the hotels have the full hog a month before they can and be happy with having to spend thousands extra to cater for outdoor dining cos that’s the scraps they get till July…..wow the hysterical nonsense in the Irish mindset these days is unbelievable
@Paul Cunningham: so why not approach with real caution and keep hotels closed and allow indoor dining for restaurants which would mean the vast majority would be dining locally instead of encouraging Countrywide travel to have dinner and drinks and if what you are afraid of happens the cases would be contained locally rather than nationwide. Not one person her nor the government can provide one legitimate, scientific or media k reason as to why hotel restaurants are safe for vast numbers of people indoors yet the local coffee shop is too dangerous to allow someone sit down and have a coffee out of the rain, wind and hailstones
@Paul Cunningham: That’s not going to happen. Look at international data. Not that you’d get that from your only source of information, a NPHET press conference.
So hotels can operate their indoor dining and Bars.. id say wet pub owners are fuming and rightfully so.. its all for one.. & Sadly not one for all…. Government said we are all in this together.. Goalposts continously moving..Darker clouds forming.
@Paul Somers: so NPHET are pilloried about “dark clouds on the horizon ” when talking about Indian variant of Covid but its fair enough when talking about the inequity of pubs not opening in comparison with hotels. Makes loads of sense. The only thing the LVA are concerned about is that the public have realised during lockdown that they can still consume unhealthy levels of alcohol from the comfort of their home for half the price or less.
Oh, the dilemma. Who to trust most in a pandemic, the publicans or the health authorities ?
@Tommy Roche: The publicans any day
@Tommy Roche: Well given the head of the hse is a former eir guy with no actual medical experience, it’s a tough question who I would trust less
Continuing to label normal social events as “high risk activities” as we exit the pandemic is NPHET continuing to exert an undue influence on our society. People deserve a break from the relentless manipulation of these unelected individuals. Issue public health advice of course, but let people take personal responsibilities and enjoy having a drink or going to a gig when the time allows without the guilt priming.
@Toon Army: you want your health are run by elected people? Populism trumps a degree/masters now when it comes to health? What people deserve is the facts or best risk analysis from people with training and experience in the profession. I’m of the opinion that most people are capable of listening to reasoned information from those we pay to provide it without having to close our ears and yell “good news only please”. I don’t think as a nation we are that mentally fragile just yet. No one should feel guilt for enjoying a social activity within the bounds of what is currently allowed. Outside of that its not guilt priming its simply not behaving within the parameters set and people willing to do that probably won’t feel guilty about it anyway so don’t see where this notion of “guilt priming” comes from.
@Toon Army: People clearly do not deserve anything because they can’t do the simplest things like washing hands, wearing masks and keeping their distance correctly. Large gatherings are still high risk activities. 88% may be effective, but if that variant is widespread in the community 12 out of every 100 people could get it, even with the vaccine. Personal responsibility is overrated, and rules should be enforced.
@Paul Cunningham: Yes, yet we’re entering summer months so regardless of vaccines, seasonality is kicking in. This time last year the virus impact was dropping everywhere, even though many countries had pubs etc fully open.
@Gerard Smith: Gerard, you ok pet, sound very stressed, go to bed get some sleep and all will be ok in the morning
Everyone I know going north to grab their pints let’s bring some of that dollar back to Ireland. The pubs who survived this pandemic desperately need it!
@Colm Phillips: publicans will make sure that the price on reopening will not be the same as it was when closing, watch how quickly patrons will be saying its cheaper to spend your money across the border
@Colm Phillips: Is that all your worried about? Pubs ?
@Eamon Morris: Well if we don’t worry about hospitality we will have 100k plus direct and indirect jobs that will need to be picked up somewhere else. Do people think pubs and restaurants operate by magic and not with staff???
@Barty: pints in my suburban local now €6 I’m plastic glasses, €5.50 pre-Covid in a proper glass.
Most people who work in pubs and who go to pubs are in age groups not yet vaccinated. Indoors should wait until they are. We’re close, it’s been long and tough but no point taking big risks this near to the finish. The vintners assoc. are willing to risk lives for money, but that doesn’t mean ya have to listen to them.
@Rob Gale: that would make sense if hotels were made abide by the same rules, but they can open a month earlier with indoor dining, so please explain how it’s safer drinking in a hotel bar than a wet pub???
@Michael Healy: it’s not safer. It’s a non-sensical move by a poor government who’ve failed at every turn of this pandemic.
@Michael Healy: also, the government are obsessed with tourism and always put tourists ahead of citizens.
@Rob Gale: because without tourism we don’t have a hospitality sector and without that you have thousands unemployed and then we have problems
Publicans should all get together and just open up people need to go back to work TDs are not out of pocket they are still getting their big wage packets while a lot of people are struggling
Remember when all this started, we were all told to believe, and behave like we all had this virus, and we all went into a first lockdown, ours lasted ten weeks, we even had 70% or more of us catch this virus, six months later, after comming out of lockdown, the symptoms were a lot less than a normal cold or flu, ( the vaccines we got are creating greater issues), it is not a killer virus, like anywhere they believe, and 99% of deaths had underlying issues, now if we were to, back track, on deaths, over the years, and re-access, cases, we could have millions more attributed to our yearly flu, which would mean that the vaccines don’t really work as well as they would like to claim, because they would stop testing for the flu,once they get to a reasonable level
@Peter Dunwoody: tell that to India then and you would get twenty lashes on a pole for your arrogance.
What about opening the damp pubs?
Pubs opening for indoor dining should be contingent on having adequate ventilation. We can’t expect vaccines to work miracles and end this pandemic while we all sit and stew in stale infected air shouting at each other for hours on end.
Can you drink a pint with a knife & fork?
@Paul Brierley: If you froze it then it’s technically possible albeit a bit of a challenge…
Including her own?
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