Covid reopening: Staffing crisis taints reopening of indoor pubs and restaurants

Jacque Barry and her daughter Ruth contacting customers last October to cancel their reservations at Jacques Restaurant on Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork. The restaurant is one of many to be hit by staff shortages. Picture: Dan Linehan 

Thousands of pubs and restaurants reopen today for indoor hospitality for the first time in 2021, but a staffing crisis means up to a quarter of businesses will remain shut. 

Around 2,500 so-called wet pubs will open for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic struck, but industry leaders have said staff shortages have threatened the reopening for many.