Covid-19: Public urged to take care as restaurants 'in this for the long haul'

Indoor dining will be allowed - however with extra measures and only pubs with a kitchen on-site can welcome back customers.

Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) Chief Executive Adrian Cummins has welcomed the Government's decision to allow them to reopen by easing restrictions. 

Mr Cummins said that over the next few weeks the sector will do 30% of its annual business.

Each weekend restaurants will do up to 10% of their annual business which was important as it provides a cash flow that will sustain the business during the quiet time in January.

While it will be difficult to quantify the amount to be generated this year because of Covid-19 restrictions, he said it was expected that this weekend €50m will be earned by the industry which will mean returns to the Exchequer for VAT and taxes.

“We want to thank the Government for putting their faith in us. We lobbied hard for this and now we need to ensure that everyone does the right thing,” he told Newstalk’s Breakfast Briefing show.

We are in this for the long haul. We did all of this during the summer, the guidelines are the same.

Mr Cummins explained that capacity in restaurants had been reduced by 68% because of the one metre distance between tables. 

“I want to assure the public that restaurants are one of the safest environments,” he said. 

Restaurants observe all the health and safety standards, he said, data had indicated that outbreaks in the sector were in the “single digits” while the higher numbers were from households. 

“Restaurants are regulated and safe. People will have an enjoyable and safe experience.” 

A lot of preparation had gone into today’s opening, he said and that bookings “are flowing in”.  

Covid-19 regulations will be enforced over the festive period and there will be inspections by gardaí and the Food Safety Authority of restaurants and gastropubs.

Mr Cummins advised the public to pre book and underlined the industry's commitment to safety standards. 

“We’re ready to do business in a safe manner. We’re in this for the long haul.  

"We're advising customers to pre-book in advance. Some businesses will have walk-ins, but pre-book, organise yourselves. 

"Make sure that you have no more than six people at a table, you have your facemasks coming into the restaurant, you hand sanitise.  

"You do everything that you're supposed to do within the guidelines," he said.

Mr Cummins said that the sector could see the finish line now that a vaccine had been found.

One restaurant in Kerry has reported strong consumer interest and that bookins have been good. 

Katie Farrell of Dooley’s Seafood and Steakhouse in Waterville, Co. Kerry said families have been booking mainly. 

"The bookings are good, good for the weekend. We've had mostly tables with one family booking with the exception of New Year's Eve. All we can do is just make sure that everyone stays safe," Ms Farrell said. 

The latest lifting of restrictions comes as health officials warned Ireland could be hit by up to 1,200 cases of Covid-19 per day by mid-January if people do not take care when socialising over Christmas. 

National Public Health Emergency Team modelling head Philip Nolan said cases, the incidence rate, and reproductive rate of the virus, are all higher than it had hoped, meaning "extreme caution" is needed over Christmas.

"Where we will find ourselves in January rests on that mantra that every contact counts," he said.

Mr Nolan's comments came as a senior minister warned the easing of restrictions to allow family gatherings over Christmas could be delayed if the virus spreads in the next three weeks. Justice Minister Helen McEntee said it has been a "very difficult year" for many and the Government wants people to be able to visit loved ones and to celebrate Christmas with friends and family.

However, she warned: "We're playing a balancing act here and there's no point in saying we're not."

Ms McEntee said the Cabinet is ready to make changes and pull back from the current plan to allow for household visits and travel outside county bounds from December 18.

She said if the Government sees cases "shoot out of control" then it may have to act, warning that "nothing is set in stone".

Nphet last night announced a further six deaths and 183 new cases, but is investigating an IT error which could mean that there were an additional 100 cases not reported. The Irish 14-day incidence rate of 79.7 remains the lowest in the EU, as the US reported a record 3,157 Covid-19 deaths in a single day with more than 100,000 people hospitalised, and the UK surpassed 60,000 deaths.

Mr Nolan said the case count over the last nine days has been static but said this and a similar finding for the testing positivity meant that the gains of the six-week lockdown had been reached.

"I wouldn't expect case counts to decline any further," he said. However, he warned that an increase in the reproductive number, which currently stands at 0.82, could see cases rise dramatically in the coming weeks.

"The more contacts, the higher the reproduction number will go, the higher the number of cases we'll be seeing in January," he said. "Realistically, I think there is a concern that we might see reproduction numbers in the range of 1.4, unless we collectively are exceptionally careful to limit our social contracts, through the next six to eight weeks. If that happens, if we see a reproduction number somewhere between 1.2 and 1.4, this scenario sees us having 300 to 600 cases a day in the second week of January."

He said it is reasonable to believe that the level of social mixing over Christmas might be higher than the level of social contacts the country saw in August and September which led to a reproduction number around 1.4.

"What would happen if we had a brief period of increased social contact and the reproduction number rose to 2.0 from the period from December 22 and January 6? As you would imagine what that shows is very significantly accelerated spread of the virus through the core festive period and leaves us in very rapid exponential growth in early January. We'd see somewhere between eight and 800 and 1,200 cases a day by mid-January."

Dr Holohan said such a scenario is "not inevitable".

"It is still within our grasp as a country to take the kind of measures that can help protect against that reality."

He said the modelling was not scaremongering and these were not predictions but are plausible.

Earlier, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the taskforce on the delivery of vaccines, chaired by Brian McCraith will report on December 11. HSE chief executive Paul Reid said Ireland will have the capacity to acquire almost 16m doses of a Covid-19 vaccine which will arrive over an extended period of time.