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Plan to rescue Gaeltacht season

Údarás na Gaeltachta is running a series of online workshops across the Gaeltacht to assist the tourism sector and to encourage the development of further visitor experience gaeltacht0420 s in the Gaeltacht.

The tourism industry in the Gaeltacht has suffered significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the sector could be impacted well into 2021 and beyond until international visitor confidence in foreign travel has returned. It is vital therefore at this time to support the Gaeltacht tourism sector in planning for the future and salvaging the Gaeltacht visitor experience for Summer 2020. By innovating their business models and products it is hoped that the Gaeltacht tourism sector can take full advantage of the short window of opportunity that may arise this summer to attract domestic visitors to the Gaeltacht and to prepare for ‘the new tourism norm’ in 2021.

Pubs can deliver pints

A lack of clarity in liquor licensing laws means pubs can operate takeaway or delivery services. pints0520

The Irish Times reports Garda HQ sought legal advice on the matter and was told neither practice is an infringement.

Last weekend, drinks for delivery were confiscated by members of the force in Co. Donegal.

However, as long as drinks are paid for at the licensed premises they can be delivered.

Takeaways are also allowed on the condition the alcohol is not consumed in public or within 100m of the pub.

Bewleys campaign begins

The campaign to reopen the iconic Bewley's cafe on Grafton Street begins officially today (Monday).

Fans of the famous coffee shop which opened in 1927 will gather outside at 11am.

The shop shut earlier this month with the loss of 110 jobs.

The closure has been blamed on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the €1.5m annual rental cost.

The building is leased from a company controlled by developer Johnny Ronan.

Damien Cassidy who is spearheading the campaign says it needed to be taken over by someone who cared not about money, but about people.

“We need someone who will come in there with a genuine interest,” he said.

Hayfield Manor plots re-opening

Staff at Hayfield Manor Hotel in Cork will have to rethink how to deliver this five-star service in the era of Covid-19. hayfield0520

Ettenne Van Vrede, CEO, of the Hayfield Collection of hotels told the 'IrishbExaminer' that brightly coloured floor markings and staff wearing surgical masks won’t work.

The collection comprises Hayfield Manor in Cork and the Great Southern Killarney and the Killarney Royal in Co Kerry.

“I’ve got a sample of one of these perspex screens for the Great Southern, I put it up, and it just does not look right.”

Cash, Communication, Certainty Challenge Caterers

Communicating with laid-off staff, preserving cash and a need for some certainty about the future were cited by two leading caterers as the principal challenges facing their micheline21 businesses during the Covid 19 crisis.

Noel Mahony, chief executive of UK caterer BaxterStorey and Kenneth Carroll, director of Carroll Catering were speaking to Micheline Corr at this week’s ‘The Firm Optimist’ discussion.

Noel Mahony said that it is very difficult to get a clear picture of where the catering sector will be early in 2021 and this makes business planning very challenging. Kenneth Carroll agreed and said that caterers will have to try to anticipate changing dining patterns with the possibility that more people will prefer to eat in their homes.

Safety of staff and customers will be at the top of caterers’ agendas. ‘It will not be possible for staff in our client sites to carry uncovered food to a table or their work desks’, Noel Mahony said. ‘Baxter Storey had operated a successful project aimed at reducing its use of plastic packaging, but packaging is likely to be a very important element in its business in the foreseeable future’.

Both caterers praised the Irish Government reaction to the pandemic. ‘In Ireland there was an early reaction, clear guidance and a measured approach’, he said, describing the equivalent response in the UK as ‘starting on the back foot and playing catch-up’.

However, he said that the catering sector in the UK had united to produce positive proposals to the Government.