Anger at new closing time for restaurants and pubs serving food

The Restaurants Association of Ireland has sought an immediate and urgent meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin to discuss the decision to close restaurants and pubs serving food at 11pm.

These new closing times for restaurants will make thousands of businesses unviable and place tens of thousands of jobs at risk, the Restaurants Association said.

It said this new "curfew" will result in between 90 and 120 minutes of trading time lost by restaurants which normally close at between midnight and 1am.

No prior discussion was had with the Restaurants Association of Ireland in advance of this announcement.

Adrian Cummins, CEO of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, described the decision as bizarre and out of the blue.

“This new 11pm curfew is a body blow to the restaurant sector. Restaurants are now one of the safest social outlets in the country and by closing restaurants at 11pm, it will drive people to impromptu house parties. The loss of an hour will be the difference to people making wrong decisions and will affect the economics of viable businesses. This announcement will have a serious impact for staycation businesses in Ireland.”