Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that he hopes indoor dining will resume in “early July.”
Speaking to the Committee on Enterprise on Wednesday morning, the Fine Gael leader was also asked to elaborate on the rules for outdoor dining/drinking when restaurants and pubs reopen on June 7.
The Tànaiste said that dining will be seated only and that there will be a maximum of six to a table.
Tables will probably be a metre apart but there's set to be no time limits and no requirement to buy a meal.
“We don’t anticipate that there will be a limit on how long you can stay. but we haven’t made a decision on that yet,” the Tánaiste said.
Last week, Mr Varadkar also gave an indication about what patrons can expect when pubs and restaurants resume outdoor dining.
"Outdoor drinking and dining won't be limited to 15 people," said the Tànaiste, while adding that the decision to use more public space to facilitate more people dining outside rests with local councils.
The prospect of a return to indoor dining and having a pint will be evaluated in late June, with a view to returning in July.
If indoor hospitality returns, Mr Varadkar said four key factors for this need to be favourable; 1) cases and the R number, 2) hospitalisations, 3) the vaccine programme, 4) variants.
The Tànaiste also said that he has been so encouraged by the freedoms the vaccine has given the UK and Israel, "it makes me really hopeful to say that we will be allowed to do outdoors in June and indoors in July. In fact, I'd even dare to put money on it at this stage".
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