Publicans are hopeful that all pubs will permitted to reopen at the same time after the Government indicated that the €9 substantial meal rule will be scrapped, the newly-appointed president of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland said.
Paul Moynihan, who now represents 4,000 publicans outside of Dublin, said he thinks all pubs will reopen in June along with other hospitality businesses as pubs will not be required to serve food to sell drinks.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror, Mr Moynihan said: "The differentiation between traditional pubs and food pubs will hopefully be gone because that was a disaster.
"All pubs have to open together. There were a lot of problems with it last year.
"There were pubs that couldn't open that had a neighbour that could open. There were villages with no pubs so people were going to towns that couldn't cope with the crowds.
"We're really pushing for all pubs to open together. The (€9 substantial meal) rule was ludicrous.
"There is no difference in terms of risk of infection for someone who is having a pint and someone who is having a pint and a sandwich.
"It didn't work and it excluded pubs across the country that didn't serve food. It's a very positive step and a good sign that all pubs will be able to reopen together."
Mr Moynihan, who is the third generation of his family to run Moynihan’s pub in Donard, Co Wicklow, said he hopes all pubs will be back serving pints indoors after the June Bank Holiday weekend.
It comes after the Government indicated that hotels may reopen when inter-county travel restrictions lift in early June.
Mr Moynihan said: "In June, when hotels reopen, we're looking to reopen indoors at the same time.
"Lots of traditional pubs don't have outdoor space. Only 30 to 40% of pubs have outdoor space.
"We want to open with hotels and restaurants inside. We wanted to be treated the same as other hospitality businesses.
"We have been neglected. It's important for us to get going again.
"It's important that pubs are mentioned (in the Taoiseach's national address) because we haven't been mentioned in terms of reopening. A mention would be a good start."
Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said yesterday that the Government is likely to scrap the €9 substantial meal rule which kept so-called wet pubs closed.
The Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said there won’t be a distinction drawn between gastro-pubs and pubs that don't serve food when the hospitality industry is allowed to reopen for customers indoors.
Mr Ryan said: “I think less likely (that the €9 substantial meal rule). I think we've learned outdoor is safer.
"That will define it, not whether you're having chicken nuggets on top of it.
“I think we might learn from it. We don’t want all those systems where people had to get a certain meal. It was a false kind of division.
“I think it will start outdoors because it’s much safer and I don’t think it’ll be whether it’s divided between food or not.
“Really outdoors versus indoors will be the difference.”
Taoiseach Micheal Martin will address the nation tonight and lay out the roadmap for the easing of restrictions in the coming months.
Mr Ryan said hospitality will reopen in a staged approach in June, starting with outdoor dining and this will likely coincide with lifting the ban on inter-county travel.
He said: “I think what’s worked in the last few months is where it’s been staged.
“For example, early this week the football and golf and things coming back so I think it’ll be the same, a series of staged reopenings.
“I think the Taoiseach said that we hope we can get hospitality back in June, domestic tourism effectively comes back and I think that is something we’re really keen to do, even that, it could be done in a staged basis.
"You open outside dining and further at a later stage you open up inside and so on.
“With the vaccine roll out ramping up, I think there’s an opportunity for us to start seeing the country open up more and included in that will be aviation.”
