Fáilte Ireland has published the Guidelines for the Reopening of Pubs.
This applies to pubs, gastro pubs and bars.
It had previously been suggested that the seating time would be limited to 90 minutes.
That has now been changed to 105 minutes.
There would be a space of 15 minutes between bookings (for cleaning and the separate departure and arrival of customers) bringing the overall length of a booking slot for pub owners to two hours.
The details of the contact tracing guidelines have also changed.
According to Fáilte Ireland, businesses will now be required to collect the contact information of just the lead party, and not of the entire party as was previously recommended.
When it comes to physical distancing in pubs, Fáilte Ireland is advising that ‘where the two-metre physical distancing is not possible, businesses are now permitted to implement one-metre physical distancing in controlled environments provided other risk mitigation requirements have been met and pre-booked time slots are in place’.
Publishing the guidelines, Paul Kelly, the CEO of Fáilte Ireland claimed that they are intended to provide clarity to businesses so that they can reopen safely on June 29th.
He also pointed out that the guidelines are living documents and therefore will evolve to reflect new government advice and changes to protocol when they emerge.
