Irish pub guidelines features relaxed social distancing and restricted booking slots

18-Jun-2020 - Last updated on 27-Apr-2021 at 12:54 GMT

Ireland's tourism agency, Fáilte Ireland, has published its guidelines for reopening pubs in the country, which includes some relaxation to social distancing measures and booking slots restricted to 105 minutes.

The guidelines, published yesterday (17 June), stipulate that businesses will also have to record the name and contact details of one person in each party, should it be required for contact tracing in the future.

Customers will be restricted to spending a maximum of one hour and 45 minutes in a premises at any one time, with operators needing to ensure that an additional 15-minute gap is left between bookings in order to allow for adequate cleaning and to allow customers to leave and enter, without mixing.

With regards to customer health, the guidance states that all guests must be advised to stand at least two metres away from other groups of people who are not from the same household, at all times.

In a controlled environment, such as pubs, bars, gastropubs, restaurants and cafés, physical distancing of at least two metres is required. However, if this is not possible, the guidelines say businesses are now allowed to implement a one-metre rule in controlled environments, once other risk mitigation requirements have been met.

Paul Kelly, CEO of Fáilte Ireland, says the guidelines are intended to provide clarity to businesses so that they can reopen safely.

He adds: "I would like to thank my team and officials from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport who have been working tirelessly on ensuring these guidelines are practical while adhering to public health advice."

Bars, pubs and restaurants in the Republic are due to reopen at the end of June.

The complete guidelines can be found here.