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Gastronomic restaurants and bars will be allowed to open in December according to plans to be presented to the Cabinet tomorrow.
The Cabinet Committee on Covid-19 agreed to allow restaurants and pubs to open over Christmas despite Nphet warning against the move.
Final details of when the opening will be allowed have not yet been agreed, but the government is looking at dates between December 4-11.
After a five-hour meeting in government buildings, the Taoiseach and its senior ministerial team decided to go ahead with plans to allow the hotel sector to reopen.
However, there will be stricter rules on how many people can visit a restaurant and how long they can say.
As a pledge to Nphet, the government said it will have stricter rules on family gatherings during Christmas.
Home visits will be prohibited until December 18 and will only be allowed after that date until January 3. Inter-county travel will also be allowed in this time period, as will religious services.
Tomorrow a memorandum on the Committee’s decision will be presented to the Cabinet, where the ministers will approve the plans to leave the confinement.
The Cabinet Committee on Covid 19 heard presentations from Nphet, the HSE, the Central Statistical Office, and the EY auditors before making its decision.
Nphet warned ministers that they would have to choose between opening restaurants and allowing people to have family gatherings during Christmas.
However, after analyzing the data, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and the leader of the Green Party, Eamon Ryan, decided to allow the reopening of restaurants and pubs that serve food.
Nphet proposed easing restrictions on family reunions and allowing inter-county travel on December 21. But the Committee decided to move this to three days earlier, on December 18.
On January 3, travel between countries will be banned and restrictions on home visits will be reintroduced.
The government will focus significantly on asking people to act responsibly during Christmas to lessen the possibility of a third lockdown in the new year.
The Cabinet Committee also agreed to allow stores, hair salons, barbers and gyms to open next week.
Online editors
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