Hospitality representatives briefed on latest Failte Ireland guidelines ahead of reopening on Monday

Photo courtesy of Fáilte Ireland

Indoor dining will resume on Monday for fully vaccinated people, while a phased re-opening will open up indoor hospitality for everyone over the coming months.

From Monday, people will have to present their EU Digital Covid Cert to gain entry into a restaurant or pub to eat or drink inside.

Senator Garret Ahearn spoke on Tipp Today earlier about a three-phased approach, which will eventually see the use of PCR and antigen testing for entry into indoor hospitality settings.

He explained why these are not currently available.

“This is a really, really positive step.

“This is something the Government have been trying to get to, over the past number of weeks, it’s not been easy, but the way it’s being done now is through three phases.

“The first phase is to open indoor hospitality for people who are vaccinated and there’ll be no time limit any more.

“The second phase that will come in after that is having PCR tests and the third phase will be antigen tests.

“The reason that we don’t have those at the moment, is because the timeline is so tight.”

Senator Ahearn added that people from the industry have been telling them that opening in July and August was vital for them to recover any of the losses from being closed.