The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
INDOOR dining and drinking is resuming across Clare today as Covid-19 restrictions loosen a little further. The move could hardly be better timed for publicans and restaurateurs as the heat wave has just ended and this afternoon is set to see the return of rain to the Banner.
Ennis publican Mark Kelly reopened Dan O’Connell’s in June and today he will also reopen the Diamond Bar on O’Connell Street, one of the town’s best known pubs.
The Diamond has only been open for a handful of days since the pandemic began in March of 2020. “We have only been open for a couple of days last year, that was it, so it’s great to be opening again.”
He said a lot of work had to be done to get the pub ready to go. “It had be cleaned from top to bottom, we had to stock up again, everything.”
Mark says it is quite difficult to find staff at the moment, with kitchen staff in particular very hard to recruit.
He also said that Ennis has been very busy with holidaymakers of late.The last two weeks have been very busy, there have been a lot of people in town on staycations and a lot of them have said that they really liked the town, so hopefully they’ll come again.”
While the decision to allow indoor service to resume was made weeks ago, as late as this morning he said that publican’s have still been getting messages with changes to the protocols to be followed.
People must be fully vaccinated or recently recovered from Covid to gain access to a pub or restaurant, and in a statement Padraig Cribben, VFI Chief Executive asked the public to be understanding. “It’s a big day for the trade especially when you consider some of our members were closed for over 16 months. Unfortunately, the new guidelines government handed down to us will make it very difficult for publicans and staff to manage their indoor businesses. Our message to customers is simple: ‘please work with us as we get used to these new guidelines’.
“The guidelines are onerous and cumbersome for staff to implement. Pubs will have to record the personal details of every person entering the venue while keeping a separate, anonymous, record that confirms vaccine passes have been checked. It’s not a practical system for business owners to operate so we’re asking people to be patient, cooperate and please remember that publicans and their staff are only doing their job.
“The Government made it clear this was the only solution to get pubs open so it’s this or remain closed until October at the earliest. 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.”
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
