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STAKEHOLDERS ARE PUSHING the government to commit to reopening indoor hospitality by the start of July.
The Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) and the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) want to see the return of indoor dining in pubs and restaurants by 1 July as vaccine rollout progresses.
Publicans say that outdoor dining, which can resume in June, will not allow the industry to recover alone.
The government is expected to make an announcement this week laying out plans for travel, aviation, entertainment, sport and mandatory hotel quarantine as we look into June and July.
Under the current “next steps” plan, the government set out that some higher-risk activities would be considered at the end of June for later in the year, such as indoor hospitality, including restaurants, bars, nightclubs and casinos.
Other higher-risk activities to be considered include indoor team or group sports, mass gatherings and events, and international travel.
Hotels and B&Bs are allowed to reopen on 2 June and can offer indoor restaurant and bar service, but only to overnight guests and residents.
On 7 June, restaurants and bars can resume outdoor dining for groups with a maximum of six people.
VFI Chief Executive Padraig Cribben said that “every day counts for our members and they need to hear from government this week that indoor trading can resume no later than Thursday 1 July”.
“After an horrendous 15 months, it’s great to see the country reopen and publicans along with their staff are certainly looking forward to being part of that process. The successful vaccination programme sends a strong signal that life is returning to something approaching normal,” Cribben said.
“When our pubs do reopen they must follow strict social distancing guidelines and we are asking Government to get those guidelines published immediately so our members can begin preparations,” he said.
“Our members are looking forward to reopening for outdoor trading on 7 June but that is only the first step. The Government must bring finality to what has been a catastrophic period for the trade by announcing pubs can fully reopen no later than 1 July.”
Similarly, Chief Executive of the LVA Donall O’Keeffe said the “success of the vaccine rollout is completely changing the picture when it comes to the pandemic”.
“The tremendous effort of our health service and health care workers in delivering the vaccine is making a major difference on a daily basis. Hospital admissions are reducing and the number of people in ICU has also fallen considerably,” O’Keeffe said.
“Thankfully this success also makes it safer for other activity to resume, including indoor hospitality service,” he said.
While we welcome the fact that outdoor hospitality will return in another couple of weeks, unfortunately not all pubs and restaurants will be in a position to provide service of that nature. Outdoor is a very short term solution to facilitate some resumption of activity but it certainly won’t allow for the recovery of the hospitality industry and full resumption of employment in the sector. That is why everyone in our industry is keenly awaiting confirmation for when we can open our doors for indoor hospitality.
In Northern Ireland, outdoor dining was permitted to reopen earlier this month, and indoor hospitality can reopen tomorrow.
The VFI and LVA want to see pubs here allowed to follow suit.
“This week pubs in the North will reopen indoors, three weeks after outdoor trading started there. We have said all along that pubs in the Republic should follow the same timeline, which would see our members reopen indoors by 1 July,” Cribben said.
“We can’t have a two-tier pub sector on the island for longer than a couple of weeks as already people are crossing the border to socialise. As we remain on course to have the vast majority of the population receive their first vaccination by the end of June, it follows that a full reopening of pubs should then be permitted,” he said.
O’Keeffe said that “given that indoor service will be allowed in hotels and guesthouses from 2nd June and in all hospitality settings in Northern Ireland from Monday, we believe it would be reasonable that indoor service should resume no later than 1 July”.
HSE CEO Paul Reid has said that around 45% of adults in Ireland have received a first dose of a vaccine against Covid-19.
Over 15% are fully vaccinated.
“Our focus on protecting the public through vaccination remains unrelenting. Without the impacted data from GPs, we’ve likely well over 2.3m vaccines administered,” Reid said yesterday.
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They should take the Pope down for a look when he’s over.
He could give the nuns absolution and all would be ready to start over again with a clean slate.
@Gerry Ryan deG: he should certainly be taken there to visit, but nobody gets a clean slate on this. When he visits he should personally hand over compensation to the countless victims of religious abuses that are still awaiting payments.
The hope for the church when it comes to compensation is to drag it out long enough until all the victims are dead, the only thing the church cares about is itself and its pockets.
@Barry Somers: Bernard law to get a cardinals send off in St Peters with the PR pope attending.. That’s what Rome thinks of its victims http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/12/20/cardinal-bernard-law-funeral-pope-francis-statement/
Dunno who is worse. The government or the Catholic Church.
@Trevor W: governments can be good or bad, &they can cause hurt or pain as well as do good things.. .we all know that but people expected much more of the catholic church because it was supposed to be holy, godly &Christian. People believed it was caring, truthful, loving Christ -like &compassionate & instead found it to be anything but. in short the catholic church was much worse because it showed itself up as lacking in basic morals, deceitful, uncaring, unloving &concerned only with protecting its image & grabbing money every chance it could get
@Trevor W: Sinn Fein arevtge worst. Then the church then the government
@Trevor W: There was a time that they were one in the same.
When he says “We are all now complicit”, I sincerely hope he is referring to elected representatives who are paid to look after these matters and have the platform to do so, and not the majority of us who spend most of our time working to keep the country running and pay their wages
@JimmyMc: we are all complicit though. We are not forcing the issue with the representatives who are meant to work to achieve what we want.
It’s an absolute disgrace so many places are sold off and bulldozed and the horrors that happened within all but forgotten. It’s not just magdelene laundries but all the mental institutions. People were locked away for all their lives and forgotten by the world. Their treatment was horrendous too. Now no one speaks about those poor people and the institutions are sold off and turned into things like luxury hotel. We have whole sections of society we locked up and treated badly and neglected. We should remember them all properly.
@Catherine Sims: The industrial schools, the Magdalene laundries are all a thing of the past. They were horrendous places, but they belong to history now, those injustices against men, women and children do not happen today.
@Catherine Sims: yes, curious there was enough will and money to develop them into exclusive/elitist/yuppie housing complexes/gated communities acceptable and desirable for the few who could afford them but not for the unfortunate inmates dealing with barrack like vast nightingale wards… Look up Friern Barnet hospital, north London and see how it evolved from an institution to an, eh, institution…
@Tom&Gerry: there should never be forgotten. Burying heading in sand will not make this go away.
Perhaps you should receive compensation from the tax payer for having to grow up near a Magdelan Laundry. Speak to a solicitor. You are a victim too after all!
@Don Shavago: Dumped Christian White already?
Everyone reading this should be aware that this memorial will cause more pain and horror to the men and women who were in orphanages and are still living today, the grown women who made and had choices are thought of more than the kids imprisoned for 14years by courts, we are the children of these women
@David Dineen: what??
@David Dineen: Catholic Church is a corrupt institution and always will be, Why,!! Because it puts its Trust in Wealth, making Money from every conceivable angle, from the day your born to the day you Die. The only way to break that cycle is, break out of it don’t let yourself be ‘Used’ ‘Abused’ by this profiteering religion. And now to Insult us all, our Government is going to pay out €20 millions on the visit of the leader of this Rich money making Machine. !!!
@Mairtín: so how do the church make money out of people? €2 in a collection plate on a Sunday?
Think about it.
You’re talking absolutely bollixxx
@David Dineen: what choices did these women have?
@Mairtín: No The church is paying for the visit
@Steph Duffy:
These women had no choices but the men who made them pregnant definitely got away with not facing up to their responsibilities.
@marg fitzgerald: and where does the church get their money?
@Tom Burke: two plates passed around per service, paying money (€50) to have someone remembered in a mass, more again to have a mass said for them. Christening, Education, Communion, Confirmation, Wedding, Funeral. At every step there’s the church with the hand extended for a bit of wheel grease. Indulgences haven’t entirely gone away either
@Dave O Keeffe:
None of which are compulsory .
@Mairtín: The problem for you is that Ireland is a Catholic country. For me and my family and millions of Catholics in this country, it would be an honor to have the pope visit.
@Dave O Keeffe: And why not, are you saying that priests should not be paid for their time. . Priests have living expenses the same as everyone else. You are not forced take part or participate in any way with anything to do with the church, you are obviously anti catholic. So i suggest you stop bothering yourself with the affairs of a church you have no time for. Just walk away, nobody will stop you.
@Mairtín: I would imagine that all churches survive on donations from their congregations. How else would they survive?
@Tom&Gerry: so your saying a priests wages comes solely from the voluntary offerings of the parish in which he serves? That’s absolute bull. I’m not anti-catholic at all, Catholicism does a world of good for a lot of people but there is no denying the organisations obvious wealth and the corrupt nature of the business side of it. The fact that anyone not donating would have to do so in view of the whole congregation brings another element to it.
@Dave O Keeffe: bullxxxx Dave.
You get a mass said and it’s typically €10 but you decide what you give.
Yes you make a contribution for a wedding or a christening but it’s nominal and if you can’t afford it it’s no problem.
For the wedding the couple and guests will arrive at a clean heated church which is provided.
Go to your local village tomorrow and walk into any premises shop, pub, restaurant, solicitor etc. Very soon you will be approached and the goal is to get your money.
Walk into your church. No charge.
You can go into that church every day of your life and never pay 1c, and you will be as welcome the next day.
You are not being truthful and you know it.
someone please ask micheal woods doctor of tomatoes what sort of crack cocaine he was smoking when he did a lousy deal to help the church out with its compensation deal to the victims of anal rape rape of women and imprisonment of it s flock .
ask michael martin why he voted for its approval maybe.
I wonder about places like this being preserved, “lest we forget.” If you visit “Auschwitz,” apart from the “Work Will Set You Free” over the entrance gates and a huge warning sign shortly after that, the amount of people laughing, joking and taking selfies, you have to wonder if you haven’t stepped into another (albeit morbid,) section of Disneyworld. The visitor’s centre full of memorabilia, dvds, cards and keepsakes also serve to dilute the horror of the place. There has to be a better way of putting a stop on man’s inhumanity to man…
How much would it be to get a few clothes washed? I need a dog bed cleaned too.
Ip
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