Bar owners have pitched a one-metre social distance plan to save Ireland’s pubs at a top-level meeting with Government.
The Irish Mirror can reveal officials in the Department of the Taoiseach met with vintners’ groups on Monday in Government buildings.
Pub bosses had been pleading for a sit-down for weeks as fears mount over the future of thousands of bars and jobs.
The two-metre social distance guidelines will mean many of the country’s most famous watering holes may never open their doors again industry sources said.
But a relaxation to the minimum World Health Organisation one metre guide would throw a lifeline to many.
A source said: “The meeting was positive and the vintners side put their ideas and their case for social distancing to Government representatives.
“It’s encouraging that a meeting took place after a number of weeks of trying to get one.”
The Government has vowed to respond in the next two weeks to publicans' concerns the Irish Mirror understands.
We previously revealed how hundreds of pubs around the country are planning to open with restaurant certificates on June 29.
Vintners are angry at being asked to wait six-week longer than restaurants before they can open their doors on August 10.
It was warned pubs and restaurants may face an enormous 87% plunge in capacity if the HSE’s two-metre social distancing guidelines are enforced.
An engineers’ report published by the Licensed Vintners Association and the Vintners Federation of Ireland says capacity will drop to as little as one-eighth of pre-coronavirus levels.
The report says that when two-metre social distancing is applied in any 100m squared area in a licensed premises, standing capacity will drop to 12.5% while seating capacity is reduced to 34% of pre-crisis levels.
