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Updated 1 hour ago
HOTELS, CAFES, RESTAURANTS and attractions where food is sold will be able to apply for grants for alfresco dining of up to € 4,000 to help facilitate a ‘summer outdoors’ this year.
Tourism Minister Catherine Martin and Fáilte Ireland today announced details of a new € 17 million plan that will be needed to help businesses transform their ability to eat outdoors.
The chair of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) Epidemiological Models Advisory Group, Philip Nolan, has previously said that it is clear that “we are looking at a summer outdoors” in 2021.
It comes after repeated requests for special grants to cover costs for businesses to facilitate cookouts. City councils have also said they have plans to open up much more outdoor space, as well as to ensure that businesses don’t get bogged down in red tape when requesting to use sidewalk and road space for diners.
The Cookout Improvement Plan announced today consists of two parts and will be delivered in partnership between Fáilte Ireland and local authorities across the country.
The first part of the funding is for outdoor seating and accessories to help tourism and hospitality businesses offset some of the costs incurred in upgrading outdoor dining and seating facilities.
It is open to individual hospitality and tourism businesses, including hotels, cafes, restaurants and attractions where food is sold for consumption on the premises, and is capped at € 4,000 per grant.
Local authorities will administer the plan.
All applicants must comply with planning codes, legislation, and other compliance requirements.
The second part of the scheme relates to waterproofing and outdoor dining infrastructure, such as the development of medium to large-scale permanent public dining spaces in cities and urban centers in preparation for welcoming visitors when safe. do it.
This funding is intended for local authorities, who can request up to € 200,000 under this element of the plan.
This money will be used to improve and improve streets and public spaces, as well as to implement weather protection solutions that will facilitate year-round cookouts in urban tourism centers.
Within the framework of the financing plan, large-scale and waterproofed dining rooms will be provided for a group of companies in a single area or street, similar to those that exist in several European cities.
This will include “permanent waterproofing structures, suitable for the design”,
Roof structures and canopies will be considered subject to the planning requirements being met.
Minister Martin said the new scheme aims to support jobs and businesses and transform appropriate outdoor spaces within our cities and towns as welcoming and vibrant places that will help support economic recovery.
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Paul Kelly, CEO of Fáilte Ireland, added: That he has been working closely with the City and County Management Association (CCMA) on behalf of local authorities to design a scheme that is efficient and practical.
“We hope to see the results across the country,” he said.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said his department, which is also in charge of local authorities, is examining ways in which city councils “can support businesses in adapting new approaches to facilitate economic recovery. and increased commercial activity in urban areas. “
This includes supporting cookouts in hotels, restaurants, pubs, and other establishments, as well as allowing restaurants to function as takeout for the current year without having to apply for a change-of-use planning permit.
Speaking to journalists yesterday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar indicated that everything is going well with the vaccination program and the number of cases is falling, the government will analyze the hospitality sector at the end of May before a possible reopening in June.
However, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan acknowledged that for hoteliers relying on reservations, more clarity may need to be provided by the end of next month, and said it will be important to provide a “step-by-step approach” to the industry.
Irish Restaurant Association Executive Director Adrian Cummins said there is now anger and hopelessness across the industry.
Specifically, Cummins said restaurants need to know if they will reopen alongside hotels and guesthouses.
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