Up to 6 people will be able to gather to drink and eat outside with no time limits from June 7th

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has indicated some of the requirements for outdoor drinking and dining which kicks off on June 7. Speaking at the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment on May 19, the Tániaste said that time limits for dining and substantial meal requirements will be scrapped for the June 7th reopening.

Bars and restaurants will provide table service only with a “metre or a metre and a half” distance between tables, with a maximum number of six people at a given table.

“It’s going to be seated only. A metre or a metre and a half between tables, no more than six at a table and they can come from any number of households,” Varadkar said.

“There will be no rule of 15. If you have the space, you have the space. There won’t be a requirement to buy a substantial meal, that will be gone. And we don’t anticipate that there will be a limit on the amount of time you can stay.”

Adherence to outdoor dining will hopefully give a green light for indoor drinking and dining in July, Varadkar added, “It is our hope and intention to allow indoor dining to resume in early July and hopefully some mass events as well.”

“As always there are other factors. It’s not just the vaccines. It’s case numbers which seem to be rising again, also the situation in hospitals which continues to improve and the issue around variants and we do have a concern about the Indian variant. There is some evidence in the UK of increased transmission and hospitalisation,” he added.

Elsewhere on District: BuJo’s Culinary Director Gráinne O’Keefe is opening her own restaurant