Indoor dining will not reopen next week in Republic of Ireland

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has confirmed that indoor dining will not reopen next week as planned.

He said he was advised by health experts in “stark terms” that proceeding with reopening next Monday will lead to a great increase in the spread of the virus, increase hospital admissions and illness and death.

Mr Martin said that the safest way to proceed with return to hospitality is to limit access to those who have been fully vaccinated and those who have recovered from Covid-19.

“Over the course of the coming weeks, Government will work urgently with the relevant sectors to agree a practical and workable approach,” he added.

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“The simple truth is that we are in a race between the variant and vaccines, and we want to do everything we possibly can to make sure that the vaccine wins.”

Mr Martin said there will be an increase in the number attending outdoor events and the number of guests allowed to attending weddings will increase to 50 as planned.

“We want to do everything we possibly can to make sure that the vaccine wins,” he added.

“Four million doses of vaccine have already been administered and each additional week means that hundreds of thousands of additional vaccines can be given to people.

“The updated advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Council and the wider range of options that it now gives our extraordinary vaccination team is very welcome.

“It means that many people will now get fully vaccinated soon and it means that supplies permitting, we can get more people vaccinated more quickly than before.

“The vaccines are safe, they work and when your chance comes, please take your vaccine.”

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the word of the day is "hope", due to the acceleration of vaccine programme, giving all vaccines to all age groups, and these "are all things we can be hopeful about."

Speaking at Government Buildings, he added: "We don't know how long the Delta variant will last and how long it will be. The optimistic view is 160 deaths over the next few months, the pessimistic scenario is over 2000 days in three months, a wave as severe as we've ever experienced.

"We've decided to err on the side of caution. If 1000 people get the Delta variant, three would die of it, but the problem is if we had 500k getting this virus we could find ourselves in the middle of another Covid tragedy.

"We need a few weeks to consult with the sector and the unions. The alternative is a prolonged delay until we reach herd immunity and we cannot say when that will be. The NPHET advice which we accepted will allow the arts and other sectors to stay open."

Leo Varadkar described Nphet’s proposal to allow people who are fully vaccinated to meet indoors in pubs and restaurants as well as theatres and music venues as “very complex”.

“It’s not something that we had anticipated, and not something that we’ve planned for to date, so we do need a few weeks, a few weeks to work it out. We need to consult with the sector with businesses, and also unions,” he said.

“The alternative is not a delay of a few weeks, and then us then opening up those indoor services for everyone. The alternative is a prolonged delay until we reach herd immunity, and with new variants very likely we just cannot say when that would be.

“So the proposal that Nphet made which Government has accepted could in fact be the pathway for hospitality, the arts and entertainment sector to reopen and stay open throughout future waves of this pandemic.”

The Tanaiste asked the sectors affected to engage with the Government.

“I know it’s enormously difficult for you. I know there is still such uncertainty. I know there have been many false dawns and that much of the summer is now lost. But we can work on this together and come up with a workable system that will allow us to open your sectors, and keep them open.”