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AS SOME PUBS prepare to reopen on 29 June, Fáilte Ireland has said pubs will be expected to serve “substantial meals” that cost at least €9.
This €9 requirement is likely to only be in place for three weeks until 20 July, when pubs that don’t serve food are allowed reopen.
But it doesn’t mean 10 packets of peanuts with a pint on 29 June, as many have joked online since the requirement was announced last night by Fáilte Ireland.
Fáilte Ireland have made it clear, citing 1962′s Intoxicating Liquor, that a “substantial” plate of food is one which you’d expect to be served as a main midday or evening meal.
Or as a main course at either time, according to Section 9 of the Act.
Yet where did the minimum €9 figure come from?
Well, as set out in the original Act, if a pub doesn’t normally serve food, it’s “reasonable” to charge a sum of at least “five shillings”.
It might sound outdated to rely on an Act drawn up when old currency was in use in Ireland.
In 2003, however, then-Minister for Justice Michael McDowell updated the Intoxicating Liquor Act 1962 through a Statutory Instrument.
According to a spokesperson for Fáilte Ireland, five shillings in 1962 was the equivalent of approximately £2 in 1973 and that this equates to €9 in 2020.
Earlier this month, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan indicated that peanuts and crisps should not be the only food publicans serve to customers in order to reopen on 29 June, as the country works to maintain social distancing to limit the spread of Covid-19.
Speaking at a Covid-19 briefing at the Department of Health, Holohan said: “A few people getting together for a few pints and a packet of peanuts doesn’t constitute a restaurant.”
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, CEO of Vintner’s Federation of Ireland Padraig Cribben said with the €9 requirement set to come into effect it is now up to individual operators to see if they can – or want to – operate within these guidelines.
“There are many who will say ‘Look the 20th July is only three weeks away so I’m going to wait and see,” said Cribben.
Cribben added that some pubs that serve food are unsure if they will even open on 29 June due to “significant challenges” regarding social distancing on their premises.
It emerged today that pubs and restaurants may be allowed to reduce the two metre social distancing rule to one metre when they reopen if the length of a customer’s stay is restricted to 90 minutes.
Fáilte Ireland yesterday confirmed it received draft guidance from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) to safely reopen the sector.
It’s not yet clear how this €9 requirement will be enforced or if customers have to buy a meal worth a minimum of €9 each or as part of a group.
The tourism body is currently in discussions with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to clarify details around social distancing measures, and further updates are expected over the coming days.
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That is just madness
@Anne Marie Devlin: Why? What did people expect when it was announced pubs with food licences can open?
@Anne Marie Devlin: Why? If a pub wants to call itself a restaurant it should be serving food.
@Lad: the 9 euro business, not the food
@Anne Marie Devlin: Jaysus if I could get away with bringing the missus out for a romantic dinner and a drink and got away with spending 9 blips I’d consider it a major victory!! Fantastic value!
@Anne Marie Devlin: It’s not that hard to comprehend. Nobody can make something up and expect it to be legally enforceable. Fáilte Ireland are drawing attention to the fact that there is legislation in place that defines what ‘serving food’ should be.
That legislation refers to €9. Fáilte Ireland did not make it up – don’t blame them.
Regardless, you won’t get a meal in any Licensed restaurant For €9 so I don’t know why everyone is ranting about it.
Go out and have a meal and a drink or stay at home – nobody is forcing you to do either.
@Barry Evans: can this include a bottle of wine?
@Anne Marie Devlin: I presume it’s to prevent inedible slop, which no customer actually intends eating, being sold for €2 to get around the regulations.
@Anne Marie Devlin: If they didn’t have the €9 business then the pubs would be selling a basket of chips and calling it a meal.
@Thomas Sheridan: I bloody well hope so lol
“BREAKING: Guinness Awarded Michelin Star…”
@Gavin Mckenna: just spat my coffee out laughing at that lol :-)
@Gavin Mckenna:
Brilliant.
@Gavin Mckenna: “Sure there’s both ateing and drinking in it”
@Gavin Mckenna: Ah, the famous Guinness and beef pies.
@Gavin Mckenna: lidl Father’s day Guinness have lost millions. Every head of state gets a free tour of the storehouse.
The ‘we’re making it up as we go along’ expert opinion is looking ridiculous at this stage. Restrict people to a time slot if needs be, but to slap a minimum price tag on a meal is bonkers
@Rob: what’s wrong with making decisions as you go based on evidence as it emerges. Should they have planned it years in advance?
@Thomas O’ Donnell: What evidence is this based on? Are other countries enforcing such a rule for their pubs/bars? Didnt think so
@Rob: How else do you work? On unknown evidence yet to be discovered? The whole world works on a system of ‘making it up as we go along’.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Thomas said the decision was based on evidence, I asked what evidence. There is none. If there is no evidence to support such a policy, why try to enforce it in the first place?
@Rob: what would you be willing to pay for a meal out in a pub, and what would you be expecting to get for your whopping €9? I’m curious.
@Rob: you’ve never heard of the rubber sandwich? Got to have a line drawn between taytos and a pink snack and a proper feed. Nine euro just puts a price tag on it. Stops pubs who don’t serve food from taking the mick.
@Rob: You get that the “novel” bit of novel coronavirus means it’s new, yeah? So we’re still learning about it. How much it spreads, how long it lasts, everything.
So in the absence of a lot of data, we can be cautious – which is what Ireland is doing, and seems to be working – or we can be cavalier like the U.S. or U.K., and it’s still growing.
I’ll happily err on the side of caution if means keeping the number of deaths under 1800, thanks all the same.
Why is the Chief Medical Officer deciding the size and costs of meals to be served in a pub? His job is to give medical advice and recommendations. It is up to legislators and policymakers to interpret and implement those recommendations. It is totally out of place for him to be telling publicans what they should or should not do or how much they should charge.
@Pablo Rojas Coppari: you obvs didn’t read the article. Straight to the comments for the fun…
@Pablo Rojas Coppari: This is why I won’t be going , with the attitude on here , your clearly not safe sharing space with these mindless people. I’d rather stay at home than get that dose of a vile disease.
@Byron Deithrick: good. We don’t feckin want you
@Pablo Rojas Coppari: to make it more obscure, it’s not the CMO deciding this, it’s the tourism board, Failte Ireland, enforcing the 1962 Intoxicating Liquor Act, which enforces premises to serve food at a minimum cost of 5 Shillings.
To all the people gone mad to get into a pub, all I can say is .. enjoy, and have a pint for me ..
@Logan Shepherd: and if you do happen to get the virus please don’t go to the hospital to be treated all because you wanted a pint.
@Dave Barrett: Does my comment read like I will be going to the pub? From the very begining, I have abided by every single restriction, as have many more. This has come at a cost of personal loss and hurt. I will take personal responsibility not to contract the virus, and personal responsibility not to endanger anyone else. Even with doing that, Covid 19 may well kill me. Until it does though, it won’t stop me from living.
@Logan Shepherd: I think he was adding to your comment as opposed to answering it
@Jack O Brien: Possibly, but either way, do we now want to pick and choose who gets to go to hospital for Covid 19 treatment?
@Dave Barrett: right so everyone who decides to not stay indoors until a vaccine is developed god knows when should be refused treatment?
@Logan Shepherd: somebody send Logan a heroes medal .
@Delboy79: Can I have 2?
@Logan Shepherd: ideally you would want to pick and choose who would get the virus wouldn’t you? Ie mostly people under the age of 60, and reach some sort of population immunity by having mostly younger people make up the 69-70%…
Social distancing can not be enforced in pubs.
It is not enforced in shops.
Everything is dictated by profit need of business. Not by the health need of the population.
Many scientists say the disease can be defeated with rigorous methods, that would include due care for the wellbeing everyone. However, that would entail spending on adequate human, technical and physical resources. The profit needs of business dictate that such a regimen will not be considered.
Trillions can be given to the oligarchs. Stock markets and deaths soar.
@PV Nevin: unemployed?, doing a pointless politics degree? Or public sector?
@PV Nevin: Stock markets soaring?
@sean o’dhubhghaill: He’s not wrong – there are companies making money even during the pandemic. Let’s hope some of them are paying tax.
@PV Nevin: I’d agree with you on how it’s to be enforced – it will be very very hard. As it is, in my experience, shops and very good at making you lineup outside and then it’s a free for all inside. Especially supermarkets. I wouldn’t blame staff in pubs for not wanting to get stuck in and break up groups and hugging etc. That should be management’s role in all this. As for the €9 – who cares. You’d spend that on a pint and half most places.
@sean o’dhubhghaill:
The paradox of the Wall Street surge:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/06/10/pers-j10.html
@PV Nevin: you make that statement as if it is fact and not opinion . So I am assuming you have visited every pub in the country and tried and tested the social distance theory but n each premises. Fair play .
Brings me back to the discos years in the 80′s when you got a spoonful of chicken curry & rice + peas on a paper plate to qualify for a bar extension
@Thomas Sheridan: supper provided wasn’t it?
@Thomas Sheridan: ya, and if you remember, they had to stop serving alcohol while everyone had to queue up for the dodgiest of grub, then the bars could start to serve again… If that food didn’t get us, very little will.
@Thomas Sheridan:
Aah ……. Memories!
I remember a hotel manager telling me the typical cost of the ‘meal’ to the management in the discos – literally pennies!
Bag of Tayto and two slices of Bread.
@Noel Barnes: that’ll be €9 please
@Noel Barnes: For €9? A bit pricey. Throw in a pint and make it a toasted cheese sandwich…
Eat it at home and keep the change :-D
So is Failte Ireland calling the shots now? There’s something rotten going on here.
Why must they serve a meal.. no logic at all to this.. then again there’s no logic to any of this… These 3 blind mice are going to destroy this country.. and looks like they will have a free run…
@Emma Fitzpatrick: What do you mean, no logic? They are reopening as restaurants, hence they have to serve a meal or else they would just be pubs, and pubs not allowed to open until the end of July.
Chicken & Chips and two weeks at home. With no taste or smell. The virus has not gone anywhere. People think it’s over .
@Byron Deithrick: This is it. Some people will do anything rather than think it over and do the wise thing. I’d rather do without for a couple of years than have a pint that puts me on a the floor of a hospital with no guarantee of survival.
I would just pay the 9 euro as an entrance fee and forego the food, big deal!
This is still gonna cripple loads of the small rural pubs, crisps and peanuts do not a significant meal make..
@ianglen: They will just have to wait a few more weeks until July 20th to open.
@ianglen: it’s not forever – just an extra 3 weeks
@ianglen: Surely they can buy in sandwiches? Not that I’d risk going out for a drink yet, but aren’t there loads of small catering kitchens and restaurants who are certified and can send out batches of food?
@Jazz Buckler: loneliness is a terrible thing.
14€ for a badly needed pint of Murphys, well you know what the vintners can do with that, they can stuff it.
Id wager a lot of people complaining about it wouldn’t balk at paying 9 notes or more for a garlic cheese curry mayo chip at 3.05am whilst waiting for a taxi.
Ok so they are going to serve food but who is going to know if you just order drink and no food . Or will a menu do and they can say they sold out .And are the pubs that are suddenly doing to start doing food going to have their kitchens checked before they open . It all a joke !
@Mary: they can only reopen if hold a current restaurant license until 3 weeks later than regular pubs can open that only have bar license and not a restaurant license also. It’s not that hard to comprehend if read the actually statements and not just the journals stories.
Having a plate of food does not make you less likely to catch the virus. This is madness.
I will be going straight from work to Ryans on Parkgate Street on the 29th for a steak and chips and a couple of pints. If the pubs opened today with no social distancing I would go as well.
Why? Because for people under 65 with no underlying condition the mortality rate is 0.6%. I am not going to sacrifice my life anymore for an illness that is mostly mild and in many cases completely asymptomatic.
Can we please have a small bit of reason in all this hysteria
This is basically similar to the Tapas culture in parts of spain which is as a result of an old requirement to serve food with alcohol.
Since some pubs are choosing to open early under their restaurant license, they need to follow the alcohol trading laws surrounding that.
Sure all pubs have to do is provide a €9 tapas style plate of meats and/or cheeses to people. Or salads to cover those who don’t want or can’t eat meat and cheese.
This is hilarious. For one it’s going to be impossible to enforce and secondly the 90 minute rule is a joke. Who is going to tell someone to get out after 90mins and I thought this was to stop the spread of the virus. What’s to stop someone who is a carrier from spending 90 min in one pub then 90 min in another pub and so on for the night. That person could potentially enter 5 pubs and infect loads of people where as if they were allowed to stay in the one pub for the night contact tracing would be a lot easier than trying to find a load of people they infected in 5 pubs. Whoever came up with these so called solutions is a fool.
Easily solved. Indelible ink stamp, like a nightclub.
@paul mccoy: Agree. What happens if you want to order a soup,main course and dessert. Does the “stopwatch” begin as soon as you enter the premises,or from the time you take your seat,select your choices and inform waiting staff. You need time for each course to be prepared and delivered to the table,time to consume food and then order and wait for coffee to be served. Use of toilet facilities,settling of bill,putting coats back on. When will you be told you’ve overstayed your 90 minute “welcome”?
Will face masks be advised as the same for other indoor settings?
It’ll be abused. It’s unenforceable.
From Wikipedia: “The goal of Fáilte Ireland is to provide strategic and practical support in developing and sustaining Ireland as a high-quality and competitive tourist destination.”
It doesn’t say anything about Fáilte Ireland providing interpretation of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 1962. Yet that’s where we are now.
This crowd are now deciding the minimum spend by customers and the minimum food a customer must purchase before a pub can be allowed to open.
In any other country it’s the elected politicians who are deciding this.
It’s 9 euro because there are no starters above that price I am guessing. They want people to eat a main meal to make the customer stodgy and lazy and not up for a feed of pints.
@Frank Discussion: No. From the article it is 9 euros being the amount in the 1962 Act indexed up for inflation. And there are definitely starters in some Dublin pubs that cost more than 9 euros!
I’m anorexic and I’m not going to spend €9 on food i don’t want. So there
@Eugene Conroy: Good luck with that Cavan man.
That will be a serving of your finest fried homegrown arachis hypogaea with a quarter gallon of your ale my good sir.
Excellent choice – you would like the Chicken satay without chicken!
Also the average age of death for someone with COVID is greater then the countries life expectancy. Can we all please drop the media frenzy panic and live again
burger/chicken and chips/pizza from the local takeaway, with delivery charge… sorted.. substantial meal for beer..
Pubs that’s serve a 9 euro meal can open but go get a pint do you need to get a meal?
@eoin carroll: Yes. In order for pubs to open at this point, they basically have to open as restaurants. They can open as pubs 3wks later.
I’ll get the plate of tayto please. That’ll be €9. Thanks. Oh sorry can I get 10 pints aswell
Takes me right back to student days.
I will not be paying this extra charge, can wait until July, or might pass on the pubs altogether, have gotten used to bottled beer in the back garden.
How much will a pint cost now because of covid 19???
The meal might b d cheap option
That’s just nuts !.
It’s a stronger strain of flu, ppl need to get over it and stop listening to mainstream media scaremongering. It’s blown way out of proportion, if you do your own homework on it you will be better advised. I think it’s 0.26% from infection to death rate and the majority of ppl dying have serious underlying health issues which would prob die if they contracted influenza A or B. Figures are all wrong and none of the restrictions make sense and keep changing. Why has there not been massive outbreaks with all the protests all over the world
Since the closure of pubs, sales of Guinness have plummeted. Diageo have seriously dropped production with serious consequences for the Irish farmers who grow malting barley for them.
Ah sure going back to “One Meter” IS… back to normal seating. I for one will not be heading back to the pub seen.
Chicken Curry with half rice half chips is a winner, normally taking the missus out costs me €60+ for a dinner for us both in some restaurant before we hit the boozer.
This is a hidden win chaps !
@5☆Fily: this sort of nonsense from the public is why making a living in hospitality in this country is so difficult. Half and halfs are for chippers, salty gravy for your local muck carvery. The hospitality industry does not exist exist exclusively for the pint sinking Irishman. Have a bit of respect for those of us needing to make a living, remain safe, while putting up with the jarred up nonsense of everyone who knows better. Your choices are to do what your told and pay the price required, stay at home and get your half and half delivered, or open your own restaurant and see how you do. This is peoples livelihoods, not a session for you.
Will triple the price of indegestion tablets. Eating slowly was the healthy mantra now scoff it down. Clowns stop making stupid unenforceable statements
A pint of dettol and a small jeyes fluid and you’ll be OK.
Father Ted stuff
The government are doing a great job. Pffft
It’s a stronger strain of flu, wise up and do your own homework and stop listening to mainstream media for once
€9 rip off need go down €6 will save business stay open
Just do social distancing with a minimum drink threshold.
They have to use existing legislation because we don’t have a functioning Dáil. In 1962, a working man would struggle to earn £1 a day, so 5 bob was serious money. Just goes to show how cheap our food has become!
I’ll not be going anywhere near a pub while I’m on a timer, telling me how much I can spend and when to get out…takeaway at the gaff and no taxi fare, bed upstairs sounds much better to me!!!
This is ridiculous, absolute insanity
Why dont they tell me what Pint to order as well?
@Liberty Peacock: give them time , that’s next on the list
What if you’re not hungry, can one still avail of drinks?
The problem is the 90 minutes not the €9
Who came up with the price of €9?
What relevance has €9 got to do with the Corona Virus?
None.
This is a crazy dictatorship.
Let’s get ready to rumble, roll on the 29th, here we go.
Price of a Bag of crisps in temple bar Pubs so they be opening so.
So everyone buys a pint and something to eat and leaves every pub will be closed in months
Define substantial
@Marg FitzGerald: What happens if there’s extra time…and peno’s..
I see the kite flying championship has started in earnest.
have your say