Indoor hospitality Late change removes requirement to take contact details from all adults

Regulations governing the reopening of indoor dining from today were signed shortly before midnight on Sunday, with small changes to the draft guidelines published on Friday.

The final regulations require pubs and restaurants to take the contact details of only one adult member of a party, rather than all members of a group as initially proposed in the draft.

Pubs and restaurants are this morning making final preparations the reopening of dining indoors for those who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from the Covid-19 virus, and for children and some staff.

More than 3,000 pubs will reopen today, with 25,000 staff expected to sign off the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP).

The guidelines include a requirement for diners to present their digital Covid certificate, or their Health Service Executive (HSE) vaccination card proving they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or that they have recovered from the virus.

For contact tracing, one adult in a group will have to give their details.

A dining party can include a maximum of six adults with up to nine unvaccinated children.

Under the guidelines customers are only permitted to remove their masks once seated.

There will be no service at the bar and all premises will be required to close by 11.30pm, although this may be reviewed later in the summer, depending on how well the programme operates.

Staffing

Hospitality industry representatives are unhappy about aspects of the guidelines which they describe as “not practical” at a time when the sector is experiencing a staff shortage.

Restaurants Association of Ireland chief executive Adrian Cummins said “people are delighted to get the doors open but it will be very difficult for us in the conditions we have to operate in. There’s a mixture of excitement and nervousness and worry about how this will go,” Mr Cummins said.

He said the single biggest issue for the industry now was a shortage of staff “across the board”, which he described as a catastrophe.

“We estimate that 30 per cent of our staff is gone. We’re standing still with only 70 per cent and that’s far from where we need to be for a labour-intensive industry.”

Some hospitality businesses intend to remain closed or to continue to cater for customers outdoors due to concerns about staffing and policing the guidelines, which some have argued are discriminatory against people who have not been vaccinated.

Grogan’s Castle Lounge on South William Street in Dublin said it would continue to serve outdoors but would not be able to reopen indoors today due to staffing issues. It said it hoped to be in a position to do so in the coming weeks.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly yesterday appealed to people to “use the same common sense that they have right through this pandemic” as indoor dining resumed.

He said public health measures were as important as ever “as we fight the Delta variant” and urged that those not fully vaccinated should avoid higher-risk activities. He wished the sector the best of luck as it reopened “after such a difficult time”.

Incentive schemes

Mr Cummins said the Government needed to sit down with the industry to “fast track a solution to restaffing the sector and look at avenues to get people back into the workforce”. He suggested that incentive schemes might be a solution.

Padraig Cribben, chief executive of the Vintners Federation of Ireland, which represents pubs outside Dublin, said most rural pubs had staffing issues “already finalised” but there was “no doubt” some in tourist areas would be struggling to find staff.

He said the latest guidelines were onerous and cumbersome for staff to implement and that managing all the records now associated with indoor hospitality would make life difficult for publicans.

“It’s not a practical system for business owners so we’re asking people to be patient, co-operate and please remember that publicans and their staff are only doing their job,” he said. “While we’re far from happy about how our members are reopening, it’s important to remember this is only a temporary measure and our expectation is that the requirement to check vaccine certs will be removed as soon as possible.”

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