LOCKDOWN: VIEW FROM THE KITCHEN FROM OUR TOP CHEFS
DYLAN McGRATH
DUBLIN restaurateur Dylan McGrath said the rules should be relaxed because he fears a lot of restaurants ‘aren’t going to survive’ otherwise. ‘THE numbers just don’t stack up. Even at a metre it’s going to be an incredible strain. Two metres around a table is a lot of space.
‘I’ve been saying it for a while, that I think we’re staring into an obliterated industry. Are we going to be able to recover from that? Two metres just means, “No”.
‘I know the World Health Organisation has recommended one metre with some common sense. I’ve seen other countries opening up and applying common sense, and things have a bit of fluidity to it,’ he said.
PAUL McDONALD,
Michelin-starred chef Paul McDonald, below, of Bastion in Kinsale, Co. Cork, said:
‘WE would agree with whatever is safe. There’s no point in making it less than two metres if it’s not safe, that’s our position.
‘If it has to be two metres then it has to be. I work there, my wife works there, our friends, the employees, family, have been there for years.
‘I don’t want to see anyone getting sick.
‘So, it’s what’s safe. If two metres is safe then it’s two metres and we’ll just keep that up and if one metre is safe, then great, go with one metre.’ He believes the Government is constantly looking at the issue and added: ‘I also think, could they not give us out some guidance now? We’ve only got four weeks to go. ‘I hoped the reason they’re leaving it so late is so they can make an informed decision that will be of the time. ‘They could have said to us four weeks ago, “You can reopen and it’s two metres”, and then close the case and not look at it again. ‘The reason they’re not, I hope, laying down the guidelines at the minute is because they want to make them as up to date as possible. ‘I imagine they will probably
Safety comes first: Paul McDonald is urging caution stick to one, 1.5 metres but I really hoped they don’t do that under duress from tweets from restaurateurs.
‘I hope they do that because it’s safe to do that.’
MAIRÉAD AND GARRY ANDERSON
Mairéad and Garry Anderson opened The Boathouse Restaurant in Killybegs, Co. Donegal, just three months ago and fear their business would not survive a rule of two metres between diners.
‘WE’LL talk to our local TD and county councillor for sure. We finally did our calculations, if it’s two metres, we would have capacity for 24 people. We have
been putting it off and believe it’s not feasible at all,’ they said.
AIDAN McGRATH
Chef Aidan McGrath, right, owner of the Wild Honey Inn in Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare, said: ‘WE need to be aware of the size of some operations. The problem is people probably did their cash-flows on their business model according to whatever rents they could afford to pay and then they opened up a place.
‘Now it’s possibly caught up with them in terms of that and the business wouldn’t be viable unless they could have them full or could turn them over two or three times.
‘In general, I would support this because what this shows is that the hospitality sector in Ireland is the largest employer in the country. There’s always been concessions for multinationals, they’ve always had their own way and all governments have always supported them because it’s huge headlines if Dell closed down and 6,000 people lose their jobs immediately. But now close on 200,000 people have lost their jobs. That’s huge so something needs to be done.’
ERIC THÉZE
Chef Eric Théze, of the French restaurant La Bohème in Waterford city, said: ‘WHAT I can’t understand is clothing shops re-opening on June 8. Would there not be a potential contamination of some sort with people trying on clothes? Also if a shop is small, how will the distancing work? And we still have no guidelines.’