Almost two million people could be back inside pubs and restaurants in under a fortnight.
It is estimated that there are in the region of 1.8million people in the country that have either now been vaccinated against Covid, or have recovered from the virus.
And with vaccinations continuing apace this will soon hit the two million people mark.
Proposals have been tabled by the working group that would see all of these people sent a vaccine pass for them to produce when visiting a bar or restaurant.
It’s believed that this would be a paper pass as the Irish Mirror understands there are technical difficulties with a digital pass being ready in just a few weeks.
This would pave the way for getting people back on a pub high stool or inside a cosy restaurant by July 19, if the political will is there.
The proposal, if adopted, could be a “stopgap solution,” according to hospitality sector sources, until the majority of people are fully vaccinated, which it’s hoped would be sometime in September.
It comes after Taoiseach Micheál Martin said NPHET will not change their advice on indoor hospitality and it's up to the Government and the hospitality industry to work out a plan.
However, there is a divide among those within the hospitality itself, with restaurateurs onboard for a pass, but with publicans saying it is unworkable.
Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) chief executive, Adrian Cummins, said about the pass: “we police underage drinking, we police our premises in other aspects.
“While it would be an extra burden to us, we want to do the right thing.”
A spokesman for the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) doubled-down on their opposition to any type of vaccine pass.
He said: “our position hasn’t changed - current proposals being put forward are unworkable and we want to be allowed to reopen on the same basis as hotels from 19th July.”
Hotels can allow their guests to dine indoors without any restrictions.
Overall, the talks between the hospitality industry and the Government were last night described as “constructive” as plans to get indoor drinking and dining back by July 19 took shape.
The Government working group is made up of senior officials from the Departments of Tourism and Enterprise and they are working with pubs and restaurant industry representatives.
A spokesman for the Minister for Enterprise, Leo Varadkar, said: “Government officials met with representatives of the Hospitality and Tourism sectors, following on from last week’s meeting of the Hospitality and Tourism Forum.
“This was a useful opportunity to build on last week’s meeting, at which the Government took feedback from the sector and heard their suggestions.
“The meeting sets out three things to be done over the period ahead:
- Progress on the acceleration of the vaccine programme: NIAC now says we can use all vaccines for all age groups, which means we are speeding up administration of the vaccines to everyone, with vaccines becoming available to the 18-35 group this week;
- Continuing to scrutinise the progression of the Delta variant, here and elsewhere.
- Work with the sector to determine ways in which indoor activities and businesses can be safely reopened.
“An implementation plan will be devised by July 19th.”
Hospitality representatives were told the new system would be self regulatory and that the gardaí would not be involved in checking customers’ vaccine certs.
It's understood the potential use of antigen testing was also discussed, but Government officials expressed that this measure or systems would not be simple to roll out in rural areas.
No definitive reopening date was given and the hospitality representatives have been told to discuss today's proposals with their members and "regroup" for a second meeting on Thursday.
NPHET are against the use of antigen testing as a tool to allow unvaccinated people dine indoors but the government has strongly indicated this could play a role in getting pub doors open again to customers.
