Ireland's pub chiefs are calling for bars to be allowed reopen outdoors from May 24 after the news that Northern Ireland's hospitality would be opening in the coming weeks.
Ireland's Government has made it clear that hospitality would be one of the last things to reopen, with "mid-summer" the only indication of timeline given so far.
It was announced on Thursday that Northern Ireland would be allowing all hospitality to reopen for outdoor service later this month from 30 th April, while indoor service is due to resume for all hospitality in England from 17 th May and in Northern Ireland from 24 th May.
And LVA chiefs want to see Ireland's follow suit in six weeks time, a spokesperson said: "Hospitality should begin reopening, starting with outdoor service for all venues – including all pubs and restaurants. This would be from the week beginning 24 th May."
Donall O’Keeffe, Chief Executive of the LVA added: "The reopening should start with outdoor service for all hospitality, which includes traditional pubs, gastropubs and restaurants and with capacity dictated by social distancing. That timeframe would allow for the further rollout of the vaccine and would also ensure that NPHET’s request for social contact to remain unchanged for the next six weeks is met.
“Any plan should also allow for indoor drinking and dining to resume in all hospitality venues shortly after that point, aligned with the reopening of hotels in June. The risk profile for dining indoors and drinking in hotels, guesthouses or B&Bs is the same as it is for other hospitality venues so these should all open together. We will not accept any situation which sees the Government discriminating against certain sections of hospitality over others.
“The Government has re-confirmed that by the end of June more than 80% of the population will have received their first dose of the vaccine, so infection rates should have significantly diminished and the ‘vaccine bonus’ should allow for all indoor hospitality activity to resume.
“The tens of thousands of people working in pubs and across the Irish hospitality sector are understandably keen to get back to work and to return to some sense of normality. It has been a very, very long time coming. Hospitality can’t be kept closed indefinitely and we believe this is a reasonable approach towards reopening while also being mindful of public health."
The Government has not committed to any date for the reopening of hospitality, although Tanaiste Leo Varadkar did indicate it should reopen this summer.
Speaking on Thursday the Tanaiste said: "We would expect to be in a position at the end of April to give an indication as to how hospitality might reopen across the course of June or July.
“We’ve no detail on that yet but it is evident and increasingly evident that outdoor dining is much safer than indoor.
“But you know, I’d hope to get to the point where both would be possible, and you know I’m increasingly confident that both would be possible over the course of the summer but I don’t want to raise expectation either and give false hope and really it’ll be the end of April before we’re in a position to do that again.”
