The President of Ennis Chamber doesn’t foresee any public order issues in Ennis regarding the serving of alcohol in temporary outdoor seating areas.
It comes as questions have been raised as to the legality of serving drinks outside were raised in Galway over the weekend.
Garda in Galway claim they raised concerns about pubs serving alcohol outside as early as May 7th.
Over the weekend, Gardaí confirmed that licensed premises are not legally allowed to serve alcoholic drinks in outdoor dining areas set up due to covid restrictions.
With indoor service not due to resume until at least July 5th, this has raised alarm bells for local hospitality providers.
The CEO of the Vintner’s Federation of Ireland has outlined publican’s frustrations at the latest development.
Padraig Cribben says publicans were incentivised to invest in outdoor dining provisions and were aided in providing outdoor service by local authorities and newly introduced pedestrianisation measures.
Locally, however, business owners appear confident that Gardaí will use common sense when deciding whether to intervene on outdoor dining practices.
The President of Ennis Chamber Darragh McAllister – who is also a publican – says that they’ve enjoyed a number of weeks of outdoor dining and doesn’t predict that Gardaí locally will clamp down on the practice.
The Justice Minister has insisted that Gardaí will use their discretion, when dealing with restaurants and pubs that are serving alcohol in outdoor seating areas.
Heather Humphreys says the Garda Commissioner is communicating that message to officers and she will examine whether further measures are required from Government.
