After a turbulent 20 months of living with Covid restrictions, pubs are once again looking at their business being disrupted over the festive season.
Last Christmas, pubs and nightclubs were not permitted to open, while restaurants had to close on Christmas Eve. The situation this year doesn’t appear to be a whole lot better for them.
Taoiseach Michael Martin is set to make an announcement this evening detailing new restrictions for Ireland ahead of the Christmas season.
Cabinet Ministers met at 3pm on Friday to discuss plans, while the Taoiseach is expected to make a live announcement later on today.
Hospitality is expected to face the most challenging restrictions, with household visits also set to become stricter.
Pubs, clubs, and restaurants are expected to have to close even earlier, with some estimating that it’ll be back to 11:30pm once again.
On Thursday, December 2, NPHET wrote to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to recommend that numbers to a table be reduced back down to 6. There is currently no limit on the number of people who can sit together in a bar or restaurant.
Businesses will not be allowed to take bookings for multiple tables in a bid to reduce socialisation.
It is also understood that NPHET recommended that nightclubs be closed, after just five weeks of opening to the public for the first time since the pandemic began back in 2020.
These measures would be in place until January 9, as recommended by NPHET, and could be introduced as early as this weekend. Though, some have said there will be a grace period.
This blow to the industry comes just days after the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme had been cut, impacting thousands of hospitality businesses across the country. It has also been a time of mass cancellations, which they say is down to Government messaging.
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