Irish bar in Germany I believe.
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No space to throw heatbutts
You donât miss much
Speakeasys here we come 
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The pixie headed scoop monkeys will be delighted
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We sure are
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In fairness, I love a pub as much as the next man, but these cunts who think that flogging toxins is some kind of noble occupation are giving me a pain in the hole. 
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The VFI, Shaping the New Ireland 
Meeting with Government
VFI Chief Executive Padraig Cribben held a meeting with senior officials from the Department of Taoiseach yesterday to discuss the future of the pub trade. Here is his report from the meeting:
You may have seen over the weekend that the Department of the Taoiseach is now responsible for co-ordinating responses to all sectors on Covid-19. This includes co-ordination of Health, Enterprise, Social Welfare etc.
Yesterday I met (actual meeting as distinct from Zoom) with senior officials from the Department to discuss the ongoing plight of the trade. The meeting basically fell into two distinct parts:
- The need for immediate clarity on re-opening, and
- Supports that will be required to ensure the viability of the trade under social distancing
Need for clarity
The key items where clarity is required are:
- Which outlets can open to serve food on June 29th and
- What are the protocols for re-opening, what government body will be responsible for the protocols and some details around key requirement
We emphasised that there are many outlets serving food that expect to be in a position to open on June 29th. We also emphasised that a seven-day publicanâs licence is all that should be required as all such operators are HSE registered.
Government are currently working on assessing the outcome of Phase 1 of easing restrictions and deciding whether to proceed with Phase 2. Based on the discussions yesterday we would expect clarity on which outlets can serve food early in week commencing June 8th. I appreciate the tightness of this for many but from discussions with the Department I canât see clarity arriving any sooner. Government certainly accepts now the need and importance of decisions in these areas.
We know FĂĄilte Ireland are currently working on protocols for the entire hospitality and tourism sectors. There will be consultation with HSE, HSA and others. In respect of these guidelines we emphasised the importance of:
- Adhering to WHO guidelines of 1-metre social distancing. This was at the centre of our proposals three weeks ago and others are now seeing the importance of it â even the HSE itself on Sunday outlining how beneficial it would be in their emergency departments
- The importance of the use of the bar for space purposes
- Clarity on the use of screens to assist in increase of capacity
We believe those guidelines may be available towards the end of this week or early next week at the latest.
Re-opening
It is clear from sources, other than our meeting yesterday, that most of the heavy lifting on the supports for businesses re-opening will be done by the new government rather than the current one.
We had a very wide ranging discussion on required supports, the ability of the sector to re-create the jobs that will be necessary to reboot the overall economy, the revenue generating capability of the pub trade, the importance of the pub as a hub in local communities and the need for a vibrant trade to support a tourism sector that will rebound.
Government fully understands the range of supports that will be needed and, equally important, that there will be a return on that investment. It is an investment not a hand-out.
It was agreed that there will be further engagement in the coming weeks.
Pushing for one-metre
Weâve been out in the media today (and Padraig will be on The Tonight Show, Virgin Media One at 10pm) about social distancing and the negative impact two-metre distancing will have on the pub trade. Along with the LVA, we commissioned an engineerâs report detailing the differences between one and two-metre social distancing and how capacity in pubs will be affected.
(As you will know, the WHO says 1-metre is safe while the HSE in Ireland says two-metres is the preferred distance.)
As Padraig mentioned, a debate has started about changing the guidelines to 1-metre and todayâs release reflects the reality that pubs will face if the more severe 2-metre restrictions are maintained.
If it goes to 1m are pubs back as normal?
Not quite but it makes reopening viable at least. It will be a great victory for the man on the street, as much as the Govt saying off with ye lads, ye won, do what you like, Live entertainment wouldnât be long following. The pubs have taken the biggest hit but are the ones carrying the heavy load required to get this country back
Pubs are finished if they are relying on table service etc. Imagine trying to implement that in rural Ireland.
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Table service will be gone out the window after 2 hours of reopening.
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I wouldnât worry too much about that
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You tell some right good ones
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