THE IRISH GOVERNMENT has earmarked June 10 as the day when all pubs in the country will be reopened, according to reports.
Ministers have been hashing out plans to reopen society, and an extensive roadmap on Ireland's lockdown exit is set to be published on Thursday.
It's understood that during a recent Parliamentary Party meeting, a significant number of TDs and Senators - most notably from Fianna Fáil - were in favour of opening pubs and restaurants up at the same time, rather than one after the other like last summer.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin promised during the meeting that a large chunk of the hospitality industry would open in June, including hotels, B&Bs, guest-houses and Air B&Bs, in order to facilitate staycations this summer.
While nothing has been officially set in stone, it's also understood that June 10 was set as an optimistic date for when pubs could reopen, following insistence from a number of Fianna Fáil members.
The Taoiseach stressed said that Ireland will be in a "very good position" come June, despite recent troubles with vaccine supplies.
He added that without "further hitches", the country should be in a "very robust" position, and should be able to reopen substantially before too long.
Pubs in Ireland have borne the brunt of pandemic restrictions.
Those unable to offer customers 'substantial meals' (around 50% of all pubs in the country) have been closed for the best part of the last 13 months.
Pubs able to serve food haven't fared much better. Lockdowns have forced them to remain closed, and even during periods when they could open, there were strict limits on customer numbers, ultimately crippling businesses nation-wide.
