Kilkenny hospitality hit hard by latest Covid restrictions

Hospitality is struggling to survive with further government restrictions imposed on the industry this week.
Chairman of the Kilkenny City and County vintners, Anthony Morrison said that he has ‘zero bookings’ over the festive period.
“Everything is cancelled, all the Christmas parties and gatherings as companies and workplaces don’t want to be associated with socialising,” he said.
Kilkenny vintner, Pat Crotty who owns Paris Texas on High Street said that the restrictions are ‘driving people out of hospitality’.
“From the beginning we watched and listened to the science and spent a fortune on ventilation and it counts for nothing. You get no credit from the government for investing in it,” he said.

Mr Crotty also pointed out that not enough has been done to address ICU capacity in hospitals across the country.
“The real problem will be when we get past Covid. Have we set a precedent for when hospitals are under pressure we shut hospitality down,” he asked.
Another pressure point for the hospitality industry was the cut in the wage subsidy scheme which was slashed last week.
“The government is making it more difficult and unaffordable. Nobody in government or the public service is short a shilling over this,” he said and called on the IWSS to be fully reinstated.
“For anyone thinking of a career in the hospitality industry, why would you even dream of it the way things are at the moment,” he added.
VFI CEO Padraig Cribben also criticised the cut.
“This is a scandalous decision to cut the last remaining subsidy available to publicans, particularly at a time when business is collapsing due to Government messaging that people should avoid hospitality venues.
“The Government can’t have it both ways, it can’t on the one hand say pubs are open but on the other tell people not to visit them. Our members’ businesses have been decimated over the past couple of weeks, a situation that won’t change in the run-up to Christmas. The cancellation rate across the sector is horrendous, the vast majority of bookings are lost.”
The new restrictions which came into place yesterday (Tuesday) are table service only (no counter service), a maximum of six adults per table, no multiple table bookings and no intermingling and masks must be worn when not seated.