Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said the Government is “hopeful” that indoor dining can reopen as planned but talks with the sector will continue later today.
He said the Government has to be “satisfied” that the industry can reopen in line with NPHET advice.
Representatives for publicans and restaurateurs are meeting with government officials from Tanáiste Leo Varadkar and Tourism Minister Catherine Martin’s department later on Tuesday.
They will nail down the rules that customers and staff have to follow when they reopen their doors, likely next Monday.
Minister Donohoe said he believes the Government is taking the right strategy with only permitting people who are fully vaccinated, children, or have recovered from Covid-19 to dine indoors.
He said he believes this is the right approach for many reasons “and one of them is the fact that we now have 2.4 million adults fully vaccinated.”
When put to him that the Government’s policy will see unvaccinated teens under 18 allowed to eat indoors with a fully vaccinated parent or guardian, he said at every point during the pandemic, demanding choices have had to be made.
He said: “But with respect that has been the feature at every point in our battle with Covid, that we do have to make choices and at different points, at making those choices we’ve asked different parts of our society to make very demanding choices for them.
“At the start of this we were asking our elderly to stay at home, not leave their homes.
“At this phase we’re asking young people to do things we wish we didn’t have to ask them to do but that’s why our vaccination programme is so important.”
Minister Donohoe said over the last five weeks, 350,000 vaccinations happened every week.
He told RTÉ’s Claire Byrne show: “We continue to be in a race against a virus that is pitiless and is always evolving.
“But in addition to that we do have to look at how we can have a society that is more safely and sustainably open.
“And if I look at where we are with hospitality..it has been opened in many other countries now for quite a while."
Cabinet will meet on Wednesday to finalise and sign off on guidelines that premises, staff and customers will have to adhere to before giving the go-ahead for a reopening date.
Mr Varadkar has indicated customers could be back indoors next Monday, July 26.
The legislation to facilitate the reopening have to be signed by President Michael D Higgins, which is expected to happen on Wednesday.
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