No music or dancing when RoI pubs open again

Pubs in the Republic of Ireland, which are set to re-open to customers on September 21, will not be able to have live music or dancing on their premises and they will have to keep their television sets to a low volume so that customers aren’t forced to speak loudly in order to be heard.

These are some of the restrictions included in new guidelines just released by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) in the RoI, which gave the government there the green light to re-open all venues, including wet pubs, by September 21 at the earliest.

Nphet has also said that it may be necessary for some venues to introduce additional toilet facilities in order to facilitate social distancing. They may also have to limit the number of customers that are allowed into premises at the same time.

For now, nightclubs in the RoI are to remain closed.

Here in Northern Ireland, landlords at wet pubs are still waiting for a date on which they can begin trading again after a surge in Covid-19 cases caused an indicative date of September 1 to be abandoned.