Indoor dining Restaurants group warns of staffing crisis ahead of Mondays reopening

Restaurants are facing a staffing “crisis” ahead of the reopening of indoor hospitality next week, according to the chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, Adrian Cummins.

Fáilte Ireland published draft operational guidelines for the sector late on Friday night, which are based on draft regulations. Regulations underpinning Monday’s reopening are expected to be finalised on Sunday, Fáilte Ireland said in a statement.

There will be “teething problems” when indoor hospitality resumes on Monday, as workers get to grips with new sector guidance published, according to Mr Cummins.

Key points

All customers who eat and drink indoors in pubs and restaurants must provide name and number for contact tracing. Businesses must keep record of time and date of arrival

Customers must present their certificate, vaccination record or other proof of immunity and QR code on certificate will be scanned. Customers may need to show photo ID

No time limit on the amount of time customers can sit at table. No requirement for pre-booking

Maximum of six people aged 13 or over can sit at each table, six-person limit will not include children aged 12 or younger. Total capacity at table with children is 15

Counter service will remain prohibited, all premises must close at 11.30pm. Music performances, dancing or other entertainment between tables will not be permitted.

If a customer leaves the premises, they must notify a staff member and will need to be rechecked or provided with a “clearly identifiable non-transferable pass”

Physical distancing of 2m, reduced to 1m “in controlled environments”. Customers will have to wear face coverings at all times when not seated at their table

The draft guidelines include some unexpected requirements, Mr Cummins told The Irish Times, including the need for every entry point to be staffed.

“It is huge extra work having to man all the extra entrances into the premises... That is not what we were led to believe,” he said.

Business owners are preparing for the reopening, but there will be some issues as people become accustomed to the new rules. The association will “see how we get on” and assess how the system is working.

Other business owners will adopt a “wait and see” approach to the return of indoor dining, he said, noting too that some restaurateurs have chosen to wait until all of their staff have been vaccinated before opening their doors.

Guidelines

Diners will be required to provide proof of the immunity status through the EU Digital Covid Certificate of their Health Service Executive vaccination record, according to the guidelines.

Staffing will be an issue for the industry, as about 30 per cent of 2019 workers have been lost.

“There was a staff shortage before Covid. Now there is an absolute crisis in our industry,” he said.

Mr Cummins is calling on the Government to launch a national media campaign to make people aware of their duties when they arrive at restaurants and pubs to dine indoors.

“The public needs to understand what is required of them when they go out for a meal,” he said, asking that people treat staff in a “calm and respectful way” as they navigate the proof of immunity system.

Meanwhile, Professor of Architecture at University College Dublin Orla Hegarty expressed concerns there will not be adequate controls in place to ensure the air inside restaurants and pubs is not infected.

“We know that in certain conditions that can infect very many people within a very short period of time,” she told RTÉ radio’s Brendan O’Connor Show.

Restaurants and pubs are “particularly high risk” in this regard because people stay for long periods while not wearing masks, she said.

Noting there are rules for food safety and clean water, she advocated for rules for clean air.

“The key thing is to prevent the outbreaks… If somebody infected comes in, they might infect somebody at their table but they won’t infect the whole room,” she said.

Prof Hegarty said hospitality workers are not equipped with the proper level of personal protective equipment. She noted she is “totally in favour of having all of these businesses open”, but she has been sounding concerns about ventilation since last October.

“The difficulty now is we are opening with unsafe rules again. It would be really unfortunate if they had to close because of that.

Ventilation and filtration are important, and there are lots of affordable options available, she said: “It is about measuring the air and making sure it is clean.”

The professor also noted that schools will have “the same problem” as hospitality, as it involves people congregating indoors for long periods. Children share the same air in a classroom where an infection could build up over time and lead to a large number of Covid cases.

It is positive that schools have been awarded funding for CO2 monitors for September, which will enable them to better control air quality, she said. However, she warned there is “no plan” for if schools discover they have unsafe air conditions, perhaps due to high occupancy or an inability to improve ventilation.

“They need a back-up plan in terms of providing them with filtration… That could be a very good solution for maybe special needs classrooms, for creches, for break rooms for teachers,” she said.

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