Tag Archives: Indoor dining

THE Clare chair of the Vintner’s Federation of Ireland (VFI) has described the government’s plans to restrict indoor hospitality to vaccinated people only as “a total smokescreen”. Charlie O’Meara characterised the mood of the county’s 160 VFI members as one of “annoyance, anger and frustration” at news that indoor hospitality will not now resume until July 19, at the earliest, and that unvaccinated people may be banned. The Ennis publican said he now fears for what faces the trade this winter when government supports come to an end and vintners try to restart their businesses, without the benefit of the normal summer takings. “There has been absolutely terrible treatment of our members,” he told The Champion. “There’s been no respect whatsoever and the government would have been happy enough, once again, to leave this issue to the eleventh hour, but for the fact that the VFI in Dublin put pressure on them to make a decision. It’s just not good …

‘Shocking decision’ undermining the Government’s credibility, warns councillor THE decision to delay the reopening of indoor dining and drinking has been met with some exasperation in Clare this week, with Fianna Fáil Councillor Cillian Murphy warning that the Government has lost credibiilty in the eyes of the public. “I think it’s a shocking decision, I’m extremely disappointed with the Government, I’m extremely disappointed with my own party,” the Kilkee representative said on Wednesday. The decision to delay reopening was announced on Tuesday, with plans for a vaccine pass set to follow. It came after NPHET issued warnings to Government of a potential fourth wave, with a huge number of cases of the Delta variant and as many as 2,170 deaths within three months, under a worst case scenario. However, despite the advice from NPHET, Councillor Murphy said he does not accept the right move is being made, particularly with the vaccination programme having gone as far as it has. “Maybe …

CLARE’S multi-million euro hospitality sector will be disproportionately hit by the latest “farcical” and “unworkable” restrictions in indoor dining, a local TD has claimed. Deputy Michael McNamara has confirmed he will try to put the latest extension of Covid-19 restrictions for the hospitality sector to a Dáil vote with the help of other Independent deputies. He said it now seems the government is going down the road of a form of “medical apartheid” where non-residents of a bar or restaurant can only enjoy a meal indoors if fully vaccinated. Expressing surprise at the latest move, the Independent Deputy said the government had previously stated it would not adopt this approach and noted the overall uptake of the vaccine against Covid-19 in Ireland is very high by European standards. The Scariff-based deputy pointed out very few bouncers or security personnel have a medical degree to assess whether their customers are fully-vaccinated. “Who is going to be standing outside the doors of …