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Restaurants and pubs serving food have raised concerns about new regulations that will force them to keep track of the substantial meals customers have ordered for 28 days.
The hospitality industry has expressed frustration at what it claims has been a lack of communication about the regulations, which were contained in the updated guidelines published by Fáilte Ireland.
The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) and the Irish Restaurant Association have written to the Data Protection Commissioner for advice on the new measures.
The new rules, which went into effect Thursday and will remain in effect until Sept. 14, will force restaurants and pubs that serve food to keep track of the substantial meals ordered by each member of a group who is allowed to dine at. a local.
Restaurant and cafe owners must be able to make records available to an An Garda Síochána member up to 28 days after the meal for inspection purposes.
Adrian Cummins, executive director of the restaurant association, said record-keeping “would add more regulatory burden for businesses at a time of extreme stress for many restaurant owners.”
He said the association was “deeply concerned” that the government had not communicated the regulations when the guidelines were introduced on August 18.
‘Zero query’
An LVA spokesperson said the new guidelines were published by Fáilte Ireland “without any consultation with the industry.”
“The first notice the LVA received was a one-line email sent just before 11 am Thursday that did not give details, only mentioning that the guidelines had been updated.
“The administrative burden that this will create has not been thought through. How will you help protect public health by knowing what topping was on a customer’s pizza or how their potatoes were cooked? We believe this is a total overreach.
“Given the data collection requirements this will impose on the industry, we have asked the Data Protection Commission for its opinion on this new measure.”
Fianna Fáil TD Marc MacSharry wrote a message on Thursday to Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the ministers of Fianna Fáil calling for “immediate intervention to alter the ‘Stasi’ guidelines issued for gastric restaurateurs and publicans, so details will now be required whose is it and now, incredibly, what they have eaten ”.
“This is a step too far and I call on all of you to urgently reverse this unnecessary and authoritarian nonsense. We have had successful closings.
“In any case, today’s published guidelines are ridiculous. I would emphasize this point at the parliamentary party meeting if we had any, so I am just sending a text message collectively in the hope and despair that they will collectively urgently address the police state restrictions announced today. “
Previously, the Taoiseach said guidance on the issue of reopening pubs was being worked on as part of the government’s new long-term roadmap for living alongside Covid-19. He said the pub orientation “will be released shortly.”
Meanwhile, the Northern Executive has postponed any decision on when or if the 600 “wet” pubs in Northern Ireland, which do not serve food, can open.
Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill said she hoped the Executive could provide an indicative date for the opening of such pubs when it meets again next week.
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