Restaurants unlikely to be affected by click-and-collect restrictions – RAI

The Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) has said it does not believe that the hospitality sector will be affected by new Government restrictions on click and collect services due to be announced later today.

Cabinet are currently meeting and Ministers are expected to suspend click and collect services in retail to help curb the spread of Covid-19.

Adrian Cummins, chief executive of the RAI, said "our reading of it is that hospitality won't be touched, just retail".

“Every takeaway in the country would have to close down. They would have to turn into a delivery operation and you wouldn’t be able to do that,” Mr Cummins said.

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"Last March the current Tánaiste and then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said takeaways had to stay open because a quarter of Irish people's calories comes from takeaways."

Meanwhile, deputy chair of Retail Excellence, Jean McCabe, said many small businesses will not be able to move their activity online and will lose out if click and collect services are suspended.

Ms McCabe said despite funding support from Enterprise Ireland and others, business owners are daunted and fearful of the prospect of having to move activity online.

"There's a lot of investment required, and a lot of time and effort and expertise," she told RTÉ Radio 1 on Wednesday.