Covid-19: Irish cabinet approves indoor hospitality plan

The Irish government has approved legislation which will allow indoor hospitality to reopen this month.

People who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 or can prove they have recently recovered will be permitted to eat and drink at indoor venues.

Tánaiste (deputy PM) Leo Varadkar said it is hoped new laws will take effect next week, but not later than 26 July.

Cabinet ministers, senior officials and representatives from the hospitality industry met over the weekend.

Proof of vaccination will be required to enter venues, either on paper or via an EU digital Covid certificate.

In addition, those who have recovered from Covid-19 in the past six months can apply for a certificate of recovery from a dedicated helpline, due to be operational next week.

People who are aged under 18 will also be allowed access to indoor hospitality provided they are accompanied by vaccinated parents or another vaccinated person.

Those vaccinated in Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the United States are to be permitted entry to bars and restaurants if they have verifiable proof of vaccination.

Plans to reopen bars and restaurants in Ireland on 5 July were delayed at the end of June.

Mr Varadkar said: "I know that this is not the ideal way to reopen indoor hospitality, but the alternative is to wait until September when all adults are vaccinated.

"Even then it may not be possible to reopen because at that stage all teenagers may not be vaccinated. We'll be concentrating on getting the schools and colleges open and open successfully and we will be heading into winter.

"So this is our best opportunity to get the hospitality sector fully open indoors and to ensure that they stay open."

He cautioned that nightclubs can operate as licensed venues with table service, but will not be allowed to operate in their traditional form for "quite some time".

Tourism Minister Catherine Martin said there would be fines of up to €2,500 (£2,125) for the use of forged documents to gain entry to venues.

The announcement had been expected and was welcomed by the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) which said a mammoth amount of work had happened behind the scenes to draft the legislation.

"It's imperative we build on the progress to date over the weeks ahead," its chief executive Adrian Cummins added.

People who are fully vaccinated will begin to receive their EU Digital Covid Certificates from Monday.

They will have a QR code which contains encrypted data on a person's vaccination status.

It is being rolled out across all 27 member nations - plus Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

EU citizens (and those of Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein), can download it or obtain a paper copy - at no cost.