Tag Archives: nightclubs

This morning.

Government buildings.

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath TD announcing plans for ‘enhanced support for businesses’ who qualify for the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) for December 2021 and January 2022.

Via RTÉ News:

The Government has dropped a planned cut to the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) in an effort to aid businesses hit by new Covid-19 restrictions.

At a press conference, the Minister for Finance said an earlier proposal to use the Covid Restrictions Support Scheme to help firms had proved “very complex and very costly”.

Paschal Donohoe said speed was vital to help the hospitality sector.

Instead, he said, he had decided to maintain the enhanced rates of subsidy under the EWSS for a further two months and said it was a more efficient and effective way to support businesses affected in the short-term.

From 1 February 2022, the original two-rate structure of €203 per week and €151.50 per week will apply; for March and April 2022 the flat rate subsidy of €100 per week will apply and the scheme will end on 30 April 2022.

He has also decided to extend the end date of the CRSS to the end of January to help nightclubs and discos which have had to close until 9 January.

Govt announces two-month extension to wage subsidy scheme (RTE)

Julien Behal/RollingNews

Friday.

Dáil Eireann.

Roscommon-Galway independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice made a passionate response to news of new covid restrictions….

“When I saw stuff coming up on my phone today, it reminded me of the song about “the day the music died”. For the youngsters of this country, the announcement this evening is devastating. It is devastating not alone for them but for any person who talks about being a politician or being involved in politics because we politicians saw what was coming from NPHET today on our phones. It was not from a Minister. We did not get any briefing.

It is similar to every bit of emergency legislation that has come in to this Dáil in the past year. Some of it was got ready on a Thursday or Friday and, over the weekend, every journalist was able to write about what we would look at next week. If we are elected by the people, we should be informed.

Government Ministers, especially, should be informed of what is coming down the line and not reading it on a phone, like we did two to three hours ago, before our Taoiseach came out to tell the people. It was not a new story because it was on the phones before he came out. We knew what was going to happen.

Unfortunately, Ministers are in a no-win position. The likes of NPHET will make their decisions. If a Minister does not go with it, he or she is made a pariah in the media.

Between the media and the doctors running this country, we are like the last link in the chain. We come in here and we vote one way or the other, be it on a Wednesday, Friday or Saturday evening, but all we are really doing is endorsing what unelected people have advised be done.

I worry where we as a nation are going. Sometimes, you have to stand up and be counted. Everyone in this House and society in general wants to suppress Covid and to get rid of it. Some of the youngsters in Ireland have never been to a disco. That is sad.

It is all right for us, we have lived life, been to places and we did not have to wear masks for years, but the youngsters who are of an age to go out do not know what is to go into a normal place. This will be the second Christmas they do not have a lot to look forward to. This Christmas they will be under the feet of their mothers and fathers, which is not a normal Christmas.

If I want to travel from some other country into this country, I have to get a negative PCR test 72 hours beforehand or a negative antigen test 48 hours beforehand and I can sit beside another person on the aeroplane for up to two hours while, at the same time, when it comes to the local pub, I cannot go to the bar, I cannot sit at a table with more than six persons and I have to produce a document confirming that I am vaccinated and, if not, I have to go outside to a shed with my drink. Where are we going as a country? We need to make sure that we bring people with us.

I worry about democracy. There will always be debate, disagreement, people who have different views, right and wrong, and people to whom you could not tell one thing or the other. I worry when I look at what is happening in Australia and what is being talked about in Austria and in Germany by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and her sidekick, Ursula.

I hope Ireland does not go down that road. I believe in democracy and the political system, whether on one side or the other. We should always respect each other. We should not shut down debate and questioning. Unfortunately, in the media you are put into a box. You could be the biggest supporter of something, but if you ask a question against it you are now put into a little corner and you are one of them. That is not the way politics should be done.

“I worry as well about powers. We were told by the so-called experts that if we reached an 85% or 90% vaccination rate, it would be happy days, happy Christmas and happy everything. I talk to people from around the country.

Ordinary, hard-working people are asking me if this is ever going to end. They were told this and that a year ago, something else six months ago and now we are back to square one. I understand that Covid is a virus and that nobody knows the ins and outs of it but, my God, we are at a crossroads in our country.

We need to give people hope, in particular those working in the hospitality sector. In a normal year, disc jockeys would have 16 nights’ work over Christmas. This year, they will have none and they will get only approximately €200 per week because the PUP will come back. They are not part of an employment because they are subcontractors. That is the reality. What did they earn in the past year? The PUP came down and because they had no tax, they were not open.

Will this be a happy Christmas for them? Definitely not. Make hay when the sun shines is a lesson we in rural Ireland always learned. Unfortunately, those people have gone into darkness tonight. I urge the Government to think of all aspects of the hospitality sector.

“As a Dáil, we need to start scrutinising some of the decisions that are coming forward. The Government cannot keep wobbling, twisting and turning. We need leadership or we will lose the people around this country who, in fairness, have made an honest effort this past year.

“We need to bring everybody with us. If someone has a reaction to a vaccine, let us not be afraid to talk about it. Let us talk about it and not shut it down. In being open and transparent we bring people with us.

“I do not believe in bringing in more and more powers. Powers will not solve this. I have trust in the people of Ireland, who are making an honest effort. We do not need to make criminals out of them.”

Earlier: Derek Mooney: Filtering NPHET

Meanwhile…

Hmm.

This evening.

Good times.

Earlier: We Did Everything You Asked

Meanwhile…

Revellers at the Tramline nightclub, Dublin last month

This morning/afternoon.

The Cabinet has agreed that midnight will be the new closing time for bars, restaurants and nightclubs from Thursday midnight.

RTÉ Political Correspondent Mícheál Lehane reports that the Cabinet has agreed that work from home advice will take effect from Friday.

The Cabinet has agreed that midnight will be the new closing time for bars, restaurants and nightclubs from Thursday midnight. Work from home advice for employees will take effect from Friday.

Covid passes will be required for cinemas and theatres but not for gyms and hairdressers.

In a change of policy, household contacts of a person with Covid will have to restrict their movements for five days and take three antigen tests.

Senior Government figures privately fear further restrictions might be needed in a few weeks’ time.

New midnight closing time for nightclubs and bars (RTÉ)

RollingNews

This afternoon.

Via RTÉ News:

Tickets required to enter clubs and venues will have to be purchased electronically at least one hour in advance, under rules discussed this morning between government officials and industry representatives.

The rules, which are due to be signed into law on Thursday, will also stipulate that there should be no congregating at doors of venues and ticket holders only should be allowed in queues.

The requirement for a ticket will be determined by whether dancing is taking place, rather than live music as previously envisaged.

Industry representatives have asked for a grace period of at least two weeks to allow them to get their electronic ticketing system and other logistical requirements in place.

One-hour advance purchase of nightclub tickets propose (RTÉ)

Earlier…

Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin at the Button Factory, Dublin

This morning.

The Department of Enterprise and the Department of Arts and Culture and industry stakeholders are meeting this morning to finalise plans for how nightclubs and late-night venues will operate – including plans for the the new proposed ticketing system.

Via RTÉ News:

Licensed Vintners Association Chief Executive Donall O’Keeffe said the sector still does not know what guidelines to operate under and said the situation is really fluid.

“It’s very unacceptable really that four days after reopening, after the longest lockdown in the world, after 595 days of closure, we still don’t know what guidelines we’re supposed to be operating.”

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said the sector would need guidelines today if they were to be implemented by the weekend.

The industry should be given at least a two-week grace period in order to get a system in place, he added.

The ticketing requirement was “dropped like a bombshell on Friday evening“, he said.

Mr O’Keeffe said the sudden change in guidelines means that many bars will not now put on live music, which he said means many musicians will not get gigs they were hoping for in the run-up to Christmas.

Guidelines for nightclubs, late venues to be discussed (RTÉ)

RollingNews

This morning.

New covid ‘safety guidelines’ for nightclubs, live events, bars and restaurants will be published today.

Via RTÉ News:

Today’s updated guidelines are expected to permit the multiple booking of tables in bars and restaurants.

It is also likely that table service will continue in bars but socially distanced queues will be allowed at bar counters.

However, people will not be able to congregate there and the move is aimed at addressing staffing shortages.

Allowing people to stand at live events could involve some limit on capacity, along with both ticketing and Covid-19 cert requirements.

Anyone?

Hic.

Multiple table bookings expected in new guidelines (RTÉ)

Getty

FIGHT!

Meanwhile…

Copper Face Jacks’ dancefloor

This afternoon.

Further to the very partial lifting of restrictions…..

…From Friday, for indoor live music, drama, live entertainment and sporting events, members of the audience and spectators should be fully seated with standing permitted at seats.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he could not go into specifics when it came to nightclubs opening. He said there will be sector-specific advice coming in relation to mask-wearing, social distancing and ventilation measures “where appropriate”.

Speaking at Dublin Castle this afternoon, the Taoiseach said NPHET’s view is that with the protective measures in place, nightclubs can open but with collective behaviour.

Guidance will be coming, but he said “people will be able to dance in a nightclub, of course“.

Live venues, nightclubs return in revised reopening plan (RTÉ)

Earlier: Over By February

Pic: Copper Face Jacks

Meanwhile…

This afternoon.

Dublin Castle, Dublin 2

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar shares with his Instagram ‘followers’ his vague hopes for a reopening of clubs by late Summer.

If you want a vision of the future, imagine boots not stamping on a dance floor – forever.

Earlier: Recoverability

RollingNews

Thanks Bebe