Mr. Donall O'Keeffe:

I would like to add one point on the issue of outdoor dining from a Dublin perspective. There are two issues that the committee should bear in mind. The first is that the artificial limit of 15 has no commercial relevance; it is not viable for us. We firmly believe that the limit should be related to the outdoor space available, socially distanced. If a premises has a lot of outdoor space, it should be able to take a large amount of customers. If it has limited space, then unfortunately it should only be able to take a limited number of customers. It is not commercially viable to open for food business for 15 customers when a chef, waiting staff and potentially bar staff have to be brought on board. The limit should be related to the space available.

The second point is that outdoor dining applies to less than 10% of the pub trade in Dublin. It is essentially closure by another name. While we welcome the opportunity to trade outdoors, it must be noted that the vast majority of pubs in our capital city will not have an opportunity to trade in that scenario.