Proposals to restrict the hospitality industry to takeaway services only from late December would have a "devastating" impact, the head of the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) has said.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) advised the Government on Thursday to implement additional restrictions soon after Christmas in order to curb the spread of Covid-19. The reduced restrictions in the current phase were due to remain in place until January 6th.
While no decision has been made yet, 28th December has been floated by officials as a possible date to reintroduce restrictions on restaurants and pubs that serve food.
Speaking on Friday, Dr Tony Holohan, chief medical officer, said there had been “too much” socialising over the last two weeks.
Recommended restrictions were targeted at areas where people congregate, and no sector had been “picked on,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
Adrian Cummins, RAI chief executive, said the proposed restrictions on the hospitality sector before the end of 2020 “will have a devastating economic impact” on businesses and employees.
In a post on Twitter, Mr Cummins said there had been “zero cases linked to restaurants in the last two weeks.”
Padraig Cribben, chief executive of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI), which represent pubs outside of Dublin, said it was a “very disappointing and really concerning development”.
Mr Cribben said it appeared there was a “go to reaction to close hospitality on a recurring basis without any great evidence of cases emanating from the sector”.
Donall O’Keeffe, chief executive of the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA), which represent Dublin pubs, said the news was “catastrophic”.
“We’re running out of language to describe how disappointing this is … Wet pubs have been closed since March 15th in Dublin,” he said.
The Government’s plan for the hospitality sector during Covid-19 was “simply not working,” and for publicans and their staff “our Christmas present is another lockdown,” he said.
Nphet appeared to have “no solutions” to deal with increasing case numbers other than to shut down the hospitality industry, he said.
Mark McGowan, the president of the RAI, said further restrictions would be “a slap in the face” for the struggling sector.
Speaking on Friday morning he called for a “rapid” decision and clarity from the Government on the possibility of a return of restrictions.
Mr McGowan told RTE radio’s Morning Ireland that the hospitality sector was controlled with well trained staff, and that statistics had shown transmission of the virus was mostly through households not restaurants.
The hospitality sector was “driven” and any further restrictions would be “a slap in the face,” he said. “I’m very worried about the long term damage that yo-yo lockdowns are doing to our industry,” he said.
On the same programme Danny McCoy , chief executive of business representative group Ibec, urged the Government to come up with “a proportionate response” to the rise in Covid-19 cases.
The impact of the virus on some sectors had been disappointing – especially hospitality and aviation, he said. “We need a considered response and quick decision making, but take the weekend and then make a proportionate response,” he said.
Speaking on Prime Time on Thursday night, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said Ireland is "doing well" when compared to other countries but that numbers "have started rising again".
He said the Cabinet was meeting on Tuesday to discuss Nphet’s recommendations, as well as advice from other sources, but that it would not be a return to Level 5.
“The kind of restrictions we would thinking about reimposing would be between Christmas and New Years would be restrictions around hospitality - essentially closing hospitality again - and limiting visits of one household to another household but not a total ban on household visits,” he said.
“For example, retails and personal services would stay open.”
He said the Government did not want to make a decision on reimposing restrictions prior to Tuesday as it gives them additional time to consider advice and to see the numbers of positive cases in the coming days.
“Bear in mind, we’d still be giving seven to 10 days’ notice to those businesses even if that decision is not made until Tuesday,” he added.
He acknowledged that the need to reimpose restrictions between New Year’s Eve and Christmas is “devastating news”.
“I know not just for the hospitality sector in particular, but also for people who had planned the season, who are looking forward to seeing people over the New Year and that may not now be possible,” he said.
“Unless the numbers stabilise over the next number of days, then we will have to bring forward from the 6th of January the point at which we need to reimpose restrictions.”
He added: “I know that’s a really hard thing to hear and a really difficult decision for people to take but if we don’t do that and wait until January 6th, the restrictions we reimpose might have to be tougher and might have to go on for longer and we don’t want that.”
