PROMINENT IRISH RESTAURATEUR Oliver Dunne has said current restaurant closures are largely due to poor decisions businesses made during and after Covid.

Dunne suggested current pressures on hospitality businesses such as reduced bookings and higher costs are not the main factor behind a spate of closures. There have been over 150 in the past six months alone, which the restaurants lobby has attributed the closures to soaring business costs.

Speaking to The Last Word on Today FM, the chef said “the vast majority of the hospitality industry is in a slump like I’ve never witnessed before”.

He added that some restaurants are hiking prices “way past the level” that is acceptable.  

Dunne said many bad business decisions were made after the pandemic, particularly in relation to VAT warehousing.

VAT warehousing was a scheme launched during the Covid-19 pandemic to help keep business afloat by allowing them to delay paying tax owed. Delays in paying employer PRSI were also allowed.

Dunne said: “A lot of reasons why a lot of places go bust and close down is because of bad business decisions that they’ve made over the years. Those restaurants, when they close, they purport it to be a downturn of business, and don’t actually say they kept a couple of hundred thousand worth of VAT that they spent.”

He said more restaurants will close.

“The weak will go, the strong will remain,” he added.

Dunne’s Asian-fusion Temple Bar restaurant, Cleaver East, will close next month for the final time after a decade in business. It’s closing due to the renovation of The Clarence Hotel; they are in the same building complex.

Oliver Dunne's restaurant Cleaver East in Temple Bar will close next month. David Cantwell David Cantwell

His restaurants include Michelin starred restaurant Bon Appétit in Malahide, ONE Ballsbridge Bar and Restaurant and Beef & Lobster Dublin and Galway.

Dunne has seen a 20% decrease in bookings across his ten restaurants between 2024 and 2025.

He said restaurant businesses have also been hit by the increase in the cost of ingredients. Less tourism and a change in habits during Covid are also at play.

“I think Covid taught everyone that going out early, coming back early, maybe wasn’t a bad thing,” he said.

Dunne said his restaurants are now more likely to be full early in the evening, while Friday nights rea not as busy for the restaurant industry any more. Business on Thursdays has increased.