Denis Cotter: 'Hospitality' lobbyists have served up terrible compromise that nobody wants

Denis Cotter and staff Meadhbh Halton and Dave O'Mahony at the window of Paradiso. "As an owner with vulnerable staff, I was nervous, and we chose to operate with much lower capacity than was allowed." Photo: Larry Cummins

For the first time this year, restaurants are about to go back to serving customers in their dining rooms. There will be a wide range of responses across the industry, from nervous to gung-ho. 

And that touches on an issue that has bedevilled all of the various reopenings, exits from lockdown, and easing of restrictions over the past 20 months. We are not a homogenous group. 

Under the umbrella of ‘hospitality’ that is currently closed or operating outdoors only, you have everything from daytime coffee shops to tiny Michelin-star fine dining places to pub giants that do a bit of food. We are all represented at the negotiation table by two lobby groups, the Vintners Federation of Ireland and the Restaurant Association of Ireland. 

Strictly speaking, these organisations represent only their members, but as nobody else is invited to the table, it is assumed that they also represent those of us who are not members. I find that assumption incredibly frustrating. 

The Government believes it is hearing from the industry when it is only talking to a lobbyist from an association, who, when they have a rant in public, makes the whole industry, not just their members, look like self-interested cowboys. The reality is that restaurants and cafes have been almost impeccably co-operative and careful in everything they have been asked to do. 

It is most of all frustrating when the lobbyist, every single time there is a new restriction or an imminent easing of one, argues against health guidance for the restrictions to be lowered or removed. 

It is frustrating that the Government then negotiates with the lobbyist on those health guidelines, in the mistaken belief that the restaurants and coffee shops of the country are opposed to them.

The lobbyist’s job should be restricted to helping to construct appropriate compensation packages. A lobbyist should never be allowed, nor dare, to ‘negotiate’ with the Government on national health issues. 

A far better approach would be to ban lobbyists and to instead form a working group that included people from the various strands of the wider industry to help formulate appropriate and more nuanced ways to help businesses stay afloat while operating patiently within restrictions.

The supports given to businesses have been excellent and well thought out. That may not be everyone’s experience, but they have helped my and many other businesses to keep all staff on the books and to tread water with low-level trading that is mindful of staff safety.

In the first reopening last summer, the lobbyists fought for earlier dates, more seats, less distance, longer seating times. Crucially, they fought for or agreed to — same result — pubs being classified as restaurants if they did a bit of grub, resulting in the derided €9 food nonsense. 

That was a bad compromise, possibly the worst aspect of which was the lumping together of cafes, restaurants, and pubs as a ‘hospitality’ category for the future, so that we all open and close together, when a small cafe might be more akin to retail and a huge bar better aligned with nightclubs.

In the rushed December reopening, the lobbyists fought again to open sooner, with higher capacity and with rules they could bend. As an owner with vulnerable staff, I was nervous, and we chose to operate with much lower capacity than was allowed.

And so here we are again. It will be an outdoor summer, said the Government back in April, and we all looked forward to that and adapted our businesses. Let us back indoors, growled the lobbyists, and did we mention sooner, more seats, less distancing? 

Even as I write, we still don’t know if it will be July 26  or July 23 when reopening is allowed, as, according to the lobbyists, the weekend is ‘vital’. Really? The weekend is not vital. I would have thought that what is vital is doing this in the safest way possible.

Good thread, as always. RAI lobbying has been wrongly focused all along in arguing for reductions in safety restrictions against health advice. But as it is an official club with 1000’s of members, the media and public assume they speak for us. They don’t https://t.co/ffZUemza4t

— Denis Cotter (@denis_cotter) July 8, 2021

Instead we have another terrible compromise that no party at the table wants. A different approach to how to talk about this, with different people at the table, would not have resulted in this. 

Over the course of the pandemic, we have been an indoor restaurant, an online purveyor of meal kits and jars of stuff, an outdoor tapas bar, and we have enjoyed being all of them. We will be very happy to go back to taking care of our customers in the way we know best, in the dining room. 

But we will be extra cautious. Paradiso will operate with less than 50% capacity indoors, with the front wall wide open for ventilation. We have invested in Novaerus air-cleaning technology and our staff are almost all fully vaccinated. 

We will be ready but we would have waited.

• Denis Cotter is the founder of Paradiso on Lancaster Quay, Cork