The Restaurants Association of Ireland wants the Government to provide vaccination targets, which will see re-opening when they are met.
They welcomed the fact outdoor dining could be resumed as soon as May, but has warned just one in five restaurants actually has room outdoors to serve customers.
The Government is due to announce its re-opening plan this week, with minor changes due to take effect in April, including a return to home-building and a wider exercise limit.
Speaking to Newstalk, RAI chief executive Adrian Cummins says a plan to return to indoor dining later this year is needed: “Outdoor dining is not viable for the economic future of restaurants and hospitality businesses.
“Across the country only 20 per cent of businesses have the opportunity to accommodate outdoor dining. So our main focus is on indoor dining and getting that back up and running, as soon as public health guidelines allow it.”
Mr Cummins said other countries in Europe have laid down targets that will trigger the end of some restrictions and that we should have the same in place here.
“Our EU counterparts do it, specifically in Denmark you can see where once they hit a certain number of vaccinations they are allowing the full reopening of hospitality.
“What we would like to see is the resumption of hospitality, so we can get thousands and thousands of people back to work.”
He said if restaurants were able to reopen this summer it would be a huge lifeline for businesses. Under the current restrictions cafés and restaurants are only allowed to offer takeaway to customers.
