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Additional reporting by Vivienne Clarke and Aoife Moore
Ireland’s ‘wet pubs’ will reopen on September 21 following today’s Cabinet deal.
Pubs that do not serve food have been closed since mid-March, after several reopening dates were postponed due to an increase in the daily number of confirmed Covid-19 cases.
The Cabinet met to discuss the possibility of reopening the rest of the pubs with new guidelines, following the advice of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).
A senior source has confirmed to the Irish Examiner that, although the reopening was agreed, they would be subject “to any local restrictions that may exist in the areas, and would have to open effectively without bar service, etc.”.
“Dublin and Limerick on a razor’s edge. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more restrictions there.”
Earlier today, the president of the Irish College of General Practitioners, Dr Mary Favier, alluded to the same point and said she cannot see the opening of wet pubs in Dublin or Limerick anytime soon due to rising levels of the virus in the two counties.
She told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the opening of such pubs will depend on local circumstances.
Over the weekend, The Irish Times reported that Fáilte Ireland had produced new guidelines for the industry, which included reducing social distancing measures to one meter in a controlled environment.
As with the restaurants and pubs that currently serve food, all customers must have left the premises before 11:30 PM.
The guidelines also state that customers must be served at the table, to prevent crowds from gathering at the bar, and no prior reservation or time-limited spaces will be required if a physical distance of two meters can be maintained.
This will mean that pubs operating under these conditions will not have to limit patrons to spending more than 105 minutes on the premises.
Due to the 11:30 pm closing time recommended by Fáilte Ireland, it is unlikely that nightclubs or night bars will be allowed to reopen in late September.
Donal O’Keeffe, CEO of Licensed Vintners’ Associaton, says the new measures will be tough, but companies in the industry will do whatever it takes to finally reopen.
“It’s going to be a lot more labor intensive in terms of customer service and cleaning routines and in terms of managing around customer contact tracing details, but that’s what it takes to open up in this environment.
“We hope that over time, as the virus is managed, the situation will improve and that these guidelines will relax, but for now, the most important thing is to just open the pubs.”
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