The Government is set to confirm plans today which will see the opening of restaurants and pubs that serve food in December in final talks over a Level 5 exit plan.
The cabinet sub-commitee met on Thursday night for nearly five hours and are understood to have rejected NPHET's calls to remain in a strict and longer-winded Level 3 map.
NPHET advised the Ministers that pubs and restaurants should continue to offer a takeaway service only throughout December.
But the Government is looking at opening dates for restaurants and gastropubs of between December 4-11 with December 7 being looked at as the 'ideal' opening date.
And pubs and restaurants will definitely not be limited to takeaway for Christmas according to sources.
Government leaders told Dublin Live last night that they are not taking NPHET’s full-on advice.
One member of the select committee of the Government’s most senior members told Dublin Live leaving the high stakes meeting: “It’s not going to be NPHET, NPHET, NPHET.”
Dublin Live met members of each of the three parties, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens as they left Government Buildings just before quarter to ten, as the special Cabinet subcommittee on Covid finished up for the night.
It was made clear that the austere advice from the medical hawks at NPHET will not be taken whole.
Another member of the crunch committee agreed when Dublin Live put it to him on his way out of the meeting at 9:40pm.
“The (Cabinet) meeting will decide, but we’ll be taking more than NPHET into account.”
But, it is understood that there will be stricter rules in terms of how long people can stay and how many people can attend the premises at one time.
Ministers are said to run a strict set of rules on household gatherings over Christmas with December 18 being seen as the date when travel restrictions will be extended, allowing people to leave their county.
Until then, it is believed that household visits will be banned and remain the same as Level 5 conditions.
One final crunch meeting is set to take place today at 2pm ahead of the announcement tonight before The Late Late Toy Show.
