News

Clare to honour Michael Cusack

The contribution to Irish culture by the founder of the GAA will be celebrated with the inaugural 'Michael Cusack Day' in Carron, located in the heart of the Burren in County Clare cusack , at midday on Sunday (20 September).

A Shane Gilmore sculpture representing the central role played by Gaelic Games in communities across the island of Ireland will be unveiled exactly 173 years on from Cusack’s birth in Carron, while 32 trees representing each county will be unveiled as part of the TOMAR Trust-funded GAA and Burren fairy trails near the Michael Cusack Cottage.

The event also will feature the launch of “Going WeLL”, a national wellness experience programme being developed nationally by the GAA to encourage people to take better care of their mental and physical health, and by so doing, to reconnect with their communities.

Going WeLL is being rolled out on a pilot outreach basis to a range of communities, schools and FET (Further Education & Training) Centres from the Michael Cusack Centre this winter, and is targeted at supporting 30 to 33 hours of additional ‘Wellbeing’ Education per annum in the Junior Cycle programme of pilot schools.

Dublin faces indoor dining ban

The Cabinet is to consider a request from the National Public Health Emergency Team to ban indoor dining in pubs and restaurants in Dublin.

visitors Given the rise in Covid-19 cases in the capital over the last seven days senior figures are tonight indicating that Government will agree to the proposal.

It would mean that these pubs and restaurants could only serve customers if they have outdoor areas or offer a take-away service.

The Government will on Friday impose new restrictions on social and economic life in Dublin in response to the rise in Covid-19 cases in the capital in recent weeks.

The Cabinet is expected to approve a proposal to move Dublin to Level 3 of the Covid restrictions, with Ministers due to sign regulations on Friday evening to impose the restrictions across a range of activities from Friday midnight.

Under additional restrictions for dining, restaurants and pubs which serve food will only be permitted to open if they have outdoor facilities, or for takeaway services. Authorities have already decided that pubs that do not serve food, so-called 'wet pubs' will stay shut in Dublin when they re-open around the country on on September 21st.

Tullamore hotel closes after cluster

The four star Bridge Housee Hotel in Tullamore hotel has closed its doors temporarily after an outbreak of Covid-19, with up to 20 guests who’d stayed there late week, testing bridgehouse

positive.

The hotle has temporarily closed after around 20 people, from a group of 40, tested positive for the virus.

The group had stayed at the premises from September 6 to 10.

The hotel released a statement to Independent.ie “regrettably” confirming the cluster.

The hotel said: “The health and safety of employees and guests is the number one priority for our hotel.

Germany on new Green List

The Department of Foreign Affairs has updated the Government's Green List of countries where Irish residents can travel without having to restrict their movements on return. frankfurt

This list, which comes into effect from Monday 21 September, includes seven destinations. These are Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Countries removed from the previous Green List include Estonia, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Italy, Norway and Slovakia.

However, Irissh residents can still travel back from these countries until Monday without having to restrict their movements.

Some of the countries on the new Green List will not let passengers from Ireland in without fulfilling certain requirements. These are as follows:

'Outlook is grim' say hoteliers

Hoteliers have expressed their disappointment with the Government’s ‘Living with Covid-19’ five-level plan y, saying it depicts a grim outlook for the tourism and hospitality industry. Irish Hotels Federation President Elaina Fitzgerald Kane said it highlighted the urgent requirement for additional sector specific supports for tourism businesses which are being severely impacted by the restrictions. With 100,000 tourism jobs already lost and a further 100,000 at risk, urgent Government intervention is now required.

Ms Fitzgerald Kane said: “We support the Government’s aim of reopening the country safely. However, we are disappointed that the roadmap does not take into consideration the controlled environment that hotels offer and our proven track record in hosting guests safely. This is not reflected in the restrictions on numbers that can attend social gatherings in hotels. In eleven weeks since opening, there have been no clusters reported in hotels.