Irish people will be able to enjoy indoor hospitality before the end of next week as the Government signed off on new plans to reopen indoor pubs and restaurants.
After the original reopening date of July 5 was delayed due to fears over the Delta variant, the progress has been welcomed by publicans and restauranteurs alike.
Here's everything that you need to know
The new changes
The Tànaiste said Gardai will not be checking every person at every table in a pub but it will be possible for enforcement officers to check log books.
He said the system is not “foolproof” and “we’re not trying to catch people out,” he said the aim is to get indoor dining reopened safely and to keep it open during the Delta wave.
Varadkar also said he would like to see the one hour and 45 minute limit on indoor dining scrapped and said it is under review.
Varadkar said he understands why the time limit is in place because it helps with contact tracing and reduces the amount of time a person spends indoors.
However, he said it is under review and only applies in pubs and restaurants where tables aren’t two metres apart.
When asked if he’d prefer to see the time limit scrapped, he said: “Yes but I would with the support of our public health advisors rather than a political decision.
“That is under review by the way...it’s to do with contact tracing and reducing the amount of time that anyone spends in an indoor space and that only applies when tables aren’t two metres apart.
“It’s not something that was invented by my department or the department of tourism, it’s advice from NPHET.
“I understand why it’s there and it’s there to limit the amount of time somebody spends in an enclosed place.”
Tourism Minister Catherine Martin has said Covid compliance officers would be given access to pubs and restaurants to check that businesses are abiding by the legislation to only allow fully vaccinated people and those who have recovered from Covid-19 in the last six months indoors.
Ms Martin said there are around 350 environmental health officers, 70 who monitor workplaces for the HSE.
Elsewhere, Varadkar said NPHET did not favour reopening indoor hospitality to children under the age of 18 if they are with a fully vaccinated parent or guardian.
The Taoiseach also told the Dáil that allowing under-18s into hospitality venues was not cleared by NPHET, but says minors would already be part of the 'family bubble' of the others in their party.
However, he said if the Government decides to go ahead with that plan, they should maintain social distancing rules and have no more than six people at one table.
It's widely being reported that table-service only will abide for the immediate future too.
The main points of the legislation
The new changes will allow adults who are either fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 within the past six months, to go inside a restaurant or a bar with their children.
The legislation, agreed by Cabinet on Monday, will see the resumption of indoor dining reopening in three phases.
Phase one will allow fully vaccinated people or a person who has recovered from Covid-19 allowed to dine indoors.
Phase two will see people allowed indoors with a negative PCR test. Phase three will see those with a negative antigen test allowed inside pubs.
If you've recovered from Covid-19- you will be allowed to dine and drink indoors for up to 6 months from the original date of infection.
However, Mr Varadkar has said more work is needed on the use of testing before it’s rolled out.
An increased emphasis will also be placed on the topic of ventilation because improving ventilation will be part of the operational guidelines to be published by Fáilte Ireland.
Social distancing measures will remain in place and, where tables are less than two metres apart, visits are set to be limited to one hour and 45 minutes.
Detailed guidance will issue from Fáilte Ireland in the coming days.
The other important parts of the legislation
The Tànaiste said people aged under 18 can dine indoors with a fully vaccinated parent.
An exemption will also apply to unvaccinated staff working in pubs and restaurants.
“They will of course be able to get a drink or have a meal after or before work in the place in which they work," said Varadkar.
While the news is a positive step forward, the Fine Gael leader did not that this was not the ideal way to reopen indoor hospitality but the alternative was to wait until September when all adults are vaccinated and “even then it may not be possible to reopen because at that stage all teenagers may not be vaccinated.”
What about younger and unvaccinated staff in restaurants and pubs?
An exemption has also been granted for unvaccinated staff - mainly younger staff - working in hospitality who will now be allowed to stay back for a pint or bite to eat after work.
The EU Digital Covid Cert
Two million EU Digital Covid Certs will be sent to vaccinated people via email or post this week. These recipients will be the first people that are allowed back in the doors of pubs as the pass will also be used for the hospitality sector too.
Minister for Tourism, Catherine Martin, has admitted that there is potential for forgeries, but she said it could be “September or October” for hospitality if we wanted “everything to be perfect.”
"This is a temporary measure to allow us to restore jobs. It will only last for as long as it needs to. Our consideration is based on protecting society while allowing tourism and hospitality to recover," said Martin.
She adds that it's "too much of a risk" to reopen indoor hospitality to the unvaccinated at this point.
What are the fines for those in breach of the new rules?
Varadkar said that it will not be the case where gardai will check an individual's vaccine passes.
However, anyone that's caught using fake documents could face a €2,000 fine or time behind bars.
Under the plans being considered, gardai could be given the powers to seek a court order to shut a pub or restaurant if any premises is found to be flouting the law.
The Tànaiste said that despite his fears of a repeat of the rowdy scenes in Berlin D2, he said that gardaí will not be going up to drinkers in pubs and asking for their passes.
When will the changes come into effect?
Government and industry sources told the Irish Mirror that it is “widely expected” that the new laws will be in place on either Thursday, July 22, or Friday, July 23.
Mr Varadkar said that it would be “no later” than Monday, July 26 for saloons to swing their doors back open.
What about nightclubs?
Varadkar said that nightclubs will have to wait “some time” before they can welcome their customers back indoors.
He said: “What we’re working on here, and what we’ve worked on with the industry, is on a system of compliance that will not require a huge level of enforcement.
“We see underage drinking enforced by an ID system, the smoking ban, very few inspections or closure orders have to be made.”
However, he said nightclubs can operate as licensed venues with six to a table and table service only.
Tourism Minister Catherine Martin has said there will be a pilot event of the reopening of nightclubs and for country and western folk.
She said she will be seeking advice on how to reopen music indoors and outdoors on licensed premises.
The reopening of bingo halls, bowling alleys and other indoor activities could also potentially take place with the use of vaccine passes “down the line,” Mr Varadkar also said.
Other caveats to the legislation
It’s understood hotels will also be allowed to cater for non-residents once indoor dining resumes.
The legislation will contain a sunset clause - a provision whereby a law will be automatically terminated after a fixed period.
What are people saying?
The move was welcomed by Adrian Cummins, Chief Executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland.
He told the Irish Mirror: “It’s a monumental day, or a giant leap, towards getting our industry back open. And it’s important that when we get open, we stay open.
“Obviously there’s a lot of guidelines to be developed over the next number of days. Then once we get those guidelines we need an information campaign and a communications campaign to our industry, to both our consumers and businesses.”
The next steps
A briefing for members of the Oireachtas health committee has been arranged for Tuesday morning where they will be asked to waive the pre-legislative scrutiny phase.
It's understood that representatives of the hospitality sector have questions about how enforcement measures and inspections are going to work.
There's also some uncertainty about the rules governing social distancing and how the new policy will be explained to businesses and the public.
Once an agreement is reached, it will then be a matter of procedure for the Dáil and Seanad to pass the legislation and for the President to sign it into law.
The President must consider legislation for at least five days and then sign it into law at the end of the fifth day, or on the sixth or seventh days.
The Tanáiste said the legislation could come before the Dáil tomorrow but it will also need to go through the Seanad and be signed by President Michael D Higgins.
The Oireachtas will also have the chance to approve the extension of the legislation after October 9.
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