People using indoor dining will have to give ID, their contact details as well as presenting a Digital Covid Cert from Monday.
A meeting took place today between the government, Fáilte Ireland, and representatives from the hospitality sector to run through the regulations that will be in place when pubs, restaurants, and cafés are allowed to reopen indoor seating.
One contentious issue announced was the confirmation that indoor venues will need to take contact details from every customer availing of their indoor services - meaning businesses will have to keep track of contact tracing.
This is a change from the current rule, only requiring one person per party to provide their details.
Businesses will also be required to construct a separate document confirming that every member of a party has provided the necessary information.
Some business owners have expressed a problem with this arrangement due to many businesses being short-staffed and will need to use a staff member to exclusively manage this contact tracing system with such a rapid intake of information expected.
On top of this patrons will need to provide a Covid Certificate, confirming that they are either fully vaccinated or have recovered from the virus within the last 6 months.
This will need to be accompanied by a form of identification - confirming that the patron corresponds with the certificate shown.
The website used to scan digital covid certs is due to go live tomorrow so businesses can do a test run.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar says eventually it's the intention to allow people to dine indoors if they have a negative PCR or antigen test.
But he's said it will be some time before that happens, or any other restrictions are eased:
"It will probably take a couple of weeks, and I think there is a strong sense [...] that we should go very carefully around any further easing of restrictions at least until the Delta wave peaks."
Time limits will not apply, but premises must close by 11.30 pm.
