General Industry News

Customers enjoy welcome return to indoor hospitality

RTE – 26.07.21

Monday, 26 July saw the resumption of indoor hospitality for the first time since last December. Some of the so-called wet pubs, which do not serve food, also opened their doors for the first time in nearly 500 days. Restaurant representatives said around 25% of their members will not be reopening for a number of reasons, such as lack of staff. People who are fully vaccinated or who have recovered from Covid-19 in the past six months can avail of indoor hospitality, along with accompanied minors. Contact tracing is now only required for the lead person at a table and for solo customers under new updated guidelines, which were agreed the night before reopening.

Construction activity increases in Ireland for the second month in a row

Business Post – 13.07.2021

The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers' Index remained well above the 50 no-change mark in June, posting 65 following a reading of 66.4 in May. Index readings above 50 signal an increase in activity on the previous month and readings below 50 signal a decrease. "Building on the post-lockdown bounce recorded in May, the June results of the Ulster Bank Construction PMI signal that Irish construction activity experienced another month of very rapid growth last month," Simon Barry, Chief Economist at Ulster Bank said.