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

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

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.