Restaurants concerned at plan to allow hotels resume indoor dining first

Restaurant owners have said they are "deeply concerned" at the suggestion hotel and guesthouses will be allowed serve indoor meals from early June, before a wider reopening of indoor dining.

In a statement issued on Thursday morning, the Restaurants Association of Ireland called on the Government to publish medical or scientific advice showing a hotel or guesthouse restaurant is safer than an independent restaurant, coffee shop or gastro pub.

"The suggestion that Government will sign off on such proposal to divide Hotel restaurants and independent restaurants into two categories is an anti-competitive, inequitable decision and without medical, scientific or public health rationale," the RAI said.

The planned split of indoor dining restart dates is designed to help the hotel and wider accommodation sector reopen, as guests will not be able to be accommodated without somewhere to eat. However, outdoor dining for the rest of the sector is currently pegged for June 7th, with no date set for the wider resumption of indoor dining.

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The RAI said restaurants have “introduced extensive safety measures, relating to the training of staff and the operation and layout of their facilities”.

The group said it is "calling for a fair and equitable solution by allowing all independent restaurants, coffee shops or gastro pubs reopen alongside Hotel and Guesthouse Restaurants. "