Hospitality trade pulls for a one metre rule

Change in social distancing ‘would give pubs a chance’

THE two-metre social distancing rule will be reduced to 1.5m or even one metre, a numberof ministers have told the Irish Mail on Sunday.

The move was last night described as a ‘game-changer’ by publicans and restaurateurs.

Several ministers said they are convinced that the public health authorities will bow to political pressure on this matter.

A source said: ‘The indications are there that they will indeed recommend that we reduce it, once the virus stays low. We are expecting the report to return from the disease surveillance group before the next phase.

‘Pubs and restaurants will be given the go-ahead to prepare for reopening with a relaxed social distance regulation.’

A senior figure at the Department of Health said there was ‘a very decent chance’ the guideline distance would be reduced to 1.5 metres or one metre.

A Cabinet source said: ‘It is a key issue for us, for the economy and for mental health. An ability for pubs and restaurants to operate with a relaxed social-distancing regime is key to our summer not being lost.’

Gina Murphy, the owner of Hugo’s restaurant on Merrion Row in Dublin, said such a move would be ‘wonderful, wonderful news’ meaning the difference between operating at one-third capacity when she reopens, to operating at two-thirds capacity – and doubling the number of staff she could employ.

‘If that was the truth, I couldn’t be happier,’ she told the MoS. ‘That would be an absolute game-changer because we were all trying to figure out how do we actually make the business viable.

‘We fully appreciate that health comes first, but I think we’ve all done our bit to suppress this virus in society, and it’s time to get the economy back. I think the realisation is we can’t keep everybody on the Corona payments forever. We’ve got to get back to work.

‘We’ll make the restaurant as safe as possible, we have all our safety standards in place. So everything that we could possibly do is currently being done. And yes, this would be massive.’

And Ms Murphy said that she was eager to get back to the restaurant.

‘I do think that by bringing things forward the Government are acknowledging that this is working. But we still need a lot of supports for business. We’ve been very badly hurt and we need help to get us back up.’

Kevin Barden, owner of the renowned O’Donoghue’s pub on Dublin’s Merrion Row, said he has no plans to reopen as yet, but the reduction of the social-distancing requirement from two metres to one would be a ‘game-changer’.

‘Especially if you look at our small

‘We’ve done our bit to supress the virus’

bar. That’s very tight as is,’ he said.

And Sallyanne Clarke, owner of L’Ecrivain restaurant, said it would be reopening on June 30 and a onemetre rule would make a difference ‘We have taken every second table out,’ she said. ‘A one-metre distance would certainly make a difference for us. But for smaller restaurants it would be a huge difference.’

The Vintners Federation of Ireland

has warned that many pubs will never open again with the twometre rule. It estimated the rule would reduce capacity by up to 87% of standing customers and 65% of those seated in a typical bar layout.

‘Changing social distancing guidelines to one metre remains a priority as this would give publicans some chance of running a viable business until a time when social-distancing rules no longer apply,’ VFI chief executive Pádraig Cribben said. ‘So it would simply not be viable for many pubs to run a business.’

There is some belief at Cabinet level that the two-metre rule can be reduced to the WHO guideline dis

‘It’s not viable for pubs to run a business’

tance of one metre because of better hygiene and distance awareness with adults. ‘It would make a huge difference for smaller pubs and restaurants. Adults can be better relied on to regulate hygiene. So that is why we can do it for the hospitality trade,’ said a Government source.

Meanwhile, ministers also ‘vehemently’ argued for the twometre social-distancing guideline to be dropped to allow for an adequate return of children to schools in the autumn.

Ministers spoke at Cabinet on Thursday night urging Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to convince the National Public Health Emergency Team to look more closely at reviewing the rule for schools. However, an agreed solution has not been found and a committee of Secretary Generals across Government has been formed to work on the issue.

The Minister for Education Joe McHugh has said he would not accept a ‘half return’ to school which would be required if the current two-metre social distancing guidelines remain in place in September.

However one senior Government source said that they will look at the viability of having ‘pods’ for younger children, that are already being put into action for creches and childcare.

‘You can have pods of up to six children where they stay in small homogeneous groups,’ said a Government source. And since primary school children stay in the one classroom largely, you could perhaps return primary schools while retaining the two metres.

‘You would also have classes on staggered lunch breaks so that they would not interact with other classes.’

Minister McHugh is scheduled to bring a report to Cabinet this week on the return to schools. He said he did not want children having to wear facemasks in school.