Hospitality may reopen by the summer amid upbeat forecast for vaccine rollout

The car park filling up at Claycastle, Youghal, East Cork as people avail of being able to travel within their county this week. Picture: Dan Linehan

Plans to allow hospitality, indoor and outdoor, to re-open in June or July will be published by the end of the month, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said.

Mr Varadkar said he is "increasingly confident" that it will be possible that both indoor and outdoor dining will be possible by July. 

The Tánaiste said provided the country keeps going in the right direction, the Cabinet will not only set out what restrictions will be eased across May, but will set out in a revised plan as to what June and July might look like.

"We would expect to be in a position at the end of April to give an indication as to how hospitality might reopen across the course of June or July. 

We have no deep detail on that yet, but the evidence is that outdoor dining is much safer than indoor, but it is hoped to get to the point where both will be possible. 

"And, you know, I'm increasingly confident that it will be possible,” he said.

Mr Varadkar's announcement was further bolstered by Philip Nolan, chairman of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, who said it would only "a really significant shock to the rate of the vaccination programme for it to have a significant impact on the rate at which things might happen across the summer.”

And those remarks were followed by further positive prognosis from deputy chief medical officer Ronan Glynn, who said recent case numbers are "better than anything we could have hoped for" a few weeks ago.

Dr Glynn, added the “single most important determinant” of what the country can do into the summer is to avoid a significant increase in cases, as yesterday saw eight more deaths reported and 309 new cases of Covid-19.

"We have come a huge distance, we do have a way to go, we have to stick with it but it is very important that people hear and understand that their efforts have made an enormous difference and we have avoided very significant mortality," Dr Glynn said.

Dr Ronan Glynn: Recent case numbers are "better than anything we could have hoped for" a few weeks ago. Picture: Julien Behal

Health officials yesterday provided a further update on the vaccine rollout programme after what HSE chief Paul Reid termed a "rollercoaster" week. Mr Reid said the additional 545,000 Pfizer vaccines due in the coming months saved the programme from going off its tracks and will balance the inability to use AstraZeneca for the under 60s. 

Mr Reid mapped out revised timelines for vaccines for certain groups and added he hopes the Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine will be available again in a few weeks time. 

Yesterday, the vaccine booking portal opened, with some 26,000 69-year-olds booking for their vaccine after it opened yesterday in a major step forward for the programme.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has contacted Irish authorities with fresh concerns over mandatory hotel quarantining.

Five EU members were added to the list of countries requiring quarantine, including Belgium, France, and Italy.

The EC is 'looking into the measures' and whether they are proportional with EU law but, speaking on RTÉ Prime Time last night, the Health Minister said he was not concerned.

Elsewhere, the Minister for Health has announced that fully vaccinated people arriving from designated states will shortly be exempted from mandatory hotel quarantine and can quarantine at home.

"Legal regulations will now be required to exempt fully vaccinated people from mandatory hotel quarantine and allow them to home quarantine," Stephen Donnelly said.

He also announced an expansion of the capacity of the programme, and confirmed that since quarantine began, 18 people have tested positive for Covid-19, of which four involve probable variants of concern.