Covid-19: Hospitality friction as Ireland eases lockdown rules

All over the Republic of Ireland this weekend final preparations are being made for the reopening of hotels, guest houses and B&Bs on Wednesday, 2 June.

Monday, 7 June will see the return of outdoor dining for pubs and restaurants.

Indoor hospitality will not return until 5 July.

The phased return to pre-Covid normality comes at a time when people are thinking about their summer holiday plans.

A task made easier by the current warm weather.

And while there was a generally favourable response to the further summer relaxation measures announced by the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Mícheál Martin on Friday evening, one sector has been clear that it is not happy.

The Restaurants Association of Ireland said it cannot understand why hotels will be allowed to serve resident guests indoors next week but restaurants will have to wait a month to do so.

Its chief executive Adrian Cummins, who has threatened a legal challenge, described the decision as "arbitrary, unjust and discriminative".

Preventing employees from returning to work, he said, jeopardises the re-employment of 110,000 workers.

"What we are asking for is indoor dining equality," he added.

The government has argued that its phased summer relaxation, with an early emphasis on outdoor activity, is necessary because of fears about the spread of the virus, even though the vaccination programme ramped up significantly in May compared to April.

Guidelines issued by the tourist support body Fáilte Ireland this week recommend that indoor diners should only be allowed to spend 105 minutes at a table with a maximum of six people aged 13 or over; up to 15 people are allowed when younger children are included.

The table must be at least a metre away from the nearest one.

Booking multiple tables is not allowed and customers must also finish up by 23:30 local time.

Some TDs (MPs) in the governing parties have criticised the 105-minute time limit and expressed fears that the measures might encourage pub crawls in rural areas.

Others suggested there was "too much micro-managing of people's lives".

At a news conference on Friday night, Mícheál Martin said the guidelines were the same as last summer and will be kept "under review".

The Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Leo Varadkar added that the 105-minute rule only applied if the tables were less than two metres apart.

He said 15 minutes was needed for cleaning before the next customers arrived.

He added the 105-minute rule also helped contact tracing.

The phased summer relaxation comes at a time when the government has admitted it may not reach its target of giving over 80% of the adult population a first vaccine by the end of June and having 55% fully vaccinated.

Supply issues with the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and - far from the first time - AstraZeneca are blamed for the expected failure.

But there are also concerns about the spread of the Indian variant of Covid-19 in Britain and worries about the implications for Ireland.

So this weekend there is optimism, some unease and more annoyance - at least on the part of restaurateurs - about Covid-19; optimism about the gradual return to normality, unease about the variants and annoyance and confusion about indoor dining guidelines.