Indoor dining’s set for a return today in Carlow, Kilkenny and across the country.
But only those who have been fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19, will be allowed to avail of indoor service in bars and restaurants.
A maximum of 6 adults will be allowed at one table and wearing face masks will be mandatory while not seated.
Paris Texas in Kilkenny City’s been operating outdoor service recently and owner Pat Crotty says he has mixed feelings, telling KCLR News “Well, a bit nervous about it because there’s all sorts of different views as to whether it’s right, wrong or indifferent but from our point of view it gets more space into play and more staff at work and it helps us to deal with the queues, we’ve been very fortunate to have queues but queues are not healthy, people get upset when they’re standing waiting and feel they’re not getting the attention they need so hopefully we can deliver that”.
He adds “It’s a website that you open on anything, on your phone, on your iPad or whatever and once you open a QR code over it it’ll recognise it so in effect linking into some kind of a Department database”.
However, some businesses have decided to keep their indoor dining area closed – among them The Arboretum garden and lifestyle centre in Leighlinbridge.
Barry Doyle, whose family owns the company, says “It was a difficult decision I suppose from ourselves we’ve spent a good few quid on doing up the cafe and to a point that we’d love to reopen it, obviously the mort staff we can bring back is better for us long term the sooner to open indoor dining, it’s something that we really wanted to do as soon as possible but just the guidance wasn’t there for us that we felt that it was fair on our staff and on ourselves to open with the uncertainty that lay around it”.
He also says “You know we’re fortunate to have a lovely outdoor area and at this time of the year with the weather we’ve been fortunate to have in the last couple of weeks it’s a lovely space for our customers to come and enjoy”.
Listeners too have mixed opinions – if you’ve something to say please get in touch: call 1890-90-96-96 or text/whatsapp straight to studio via 083 306 96 96.
