PUBLIC safety will be the main priority when the outdoor dining scheme is rolled out in Kerry in the coming weeks and months and all businesses that provide a dine out option must have a licence to do so and be planning compliant, Kerry County Council has stressed.
The local authority’s chief executive, Moira Murrell, said it is difficult to plan in the absence of a full sense of what public health advice is going to bring but it will be similar to the measures introduced last year.
The absolute priority is to ensure safe streets, safe distance and safe access and where outdoor dining can be facilitated, the council will work with the individual businesses to ensure it is done right.
“We’ll work with the businesses as we always do,” the CEO stated.
Kerry County Council will administer the scheme on behalf of Fáilte Ireland but, during the course of an occasionally hated online meeting today, a number of councillors expressed concern that projects in Killarney and Dingle were both given preference ahead of other towns and villages. Kenmare Place in Killarney and the boat yard side near the waterfront in Dingle have both been identified as key areas to be developed for outdoor dining purposes.
“There’s a lot of frustration and anger out there,” said Cllr Robert Beasley from Ballybunion.
“We love to travel to Killarney, we love to stay there and we love to dine there but Killarney and Dingle are now two stand-alone areas and how could other towns and villages be sidelined?” he asked.
Cllr Beasley said as Killarney generates business 12 months of the year, public representatives in other areas will find it difficult to explain what has happened.
Cllr John Francis Flynn said the criteria seemed to be based on footfall and the availability of hotels but he asked for another scheme to be introduced with different criteria to benefit other areas.
Cllr Mike Kennelly said his native Listowel “came third in a two-horse race” when towns were being included for the funding.
He had been approached by concerned vintners who are suffering great anxiety trying to keep their businesses secure.
Cllr Michael Cahill, from Rossbeigh, said he too would be very wary of another outdoor dining scheme as it would be very difficult to implement and it could prove discriminatory.
“I would warn Kerry County Council to be very careful when rolling out this scheme and to tread very carefully. It’s totally unfair for some towns to get extra help from Fáilte Ireland as every business in tourism should be entitled to support,” he stated.
However, Cllr Marie Moloney remarked: “Killarney has suffered big time. A lot of small business have closed down and won’t open again. If people in Killarney have put in the resources then fair play to them.”
Cllr Niall O’Callaghan slated the Fáilte Ireland report and he claimed whoever wrote it cannot tell the difference between a wet and a dry pub and it was discriminatory against publicans.
“The publicans of Kerry didn’t drive to England and bring back the UK variant of Covid. The problem is they opened up the country,” he said.
“Whoever wrote the report should be embarrassed. I’m fed up to my teeth with all of this,” he remarked.
“People in Killarney are at their wit’s end wondering how they can stay in business. I’m not putting up with this discrimination any longer,” said Cllr O’Callaghan whose family is in the hotel and pub trade.
He asked the council to arrange a virtual meeting with the people responsible for compiling the Fáilte Ireland report to discuss its contents.
Cllr Maura Healy-Rae said pubs were “totally disregarded and excluded” when it came to providing an opportunity of grant funding.
“It’s ridiculous and I totally resent it. It seems it is the government’s intention to close rural pubs down,” she said.
Cllr Michael Gleeson said it should not be overlooked that Kerry is a very small county and every area is inter-dependant.
“What benefits one area will benefit another. I worry about this excess negativity,” he said.
Council CEO, Moira Murrell, said it was important to stress that the scheme covered outdoor dining only and that the council is currently reviewing the mobility plans implemented last year.
Fáilte Ireland will be considering other schemes under its review of night-time economy matters.
“We have to be supportive of each other. It serves no purpose if we’re not and it sends the wrong message everywhere,” Ms Murrell said.
The outdoor dining grant scheme is open to attractions, hotels, restaurants, cafes, public houses or other tourism and hospitality businesses where food is sold for consumption on the premises.
Applicants can apply for a grant of up to €4,000 – for up to 75% of the ex-VAT cost of equipment purchased – and eligible expenditure covers outdoor tables and chairs, umbrellas, electric heaters, screens and windbreakers, plant stands and wooden platforms.
The expenditure must be incurred between April 2020 and 30 September 2021.
A special meeting of councillors and officials in the Killarney Municipal District will be held next Friday to clarify the outdoor dining infrastructure scheme and to discuss weatherproofing certain areas in the town.
