Late May return for Hospitality
Hotels, guesthouses and self-catering facilities will re-open in late May or early June if the Cabinet decides so to-day.
The ban on inter-county travel will be lifted on 10th May.
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It is understood that a proposal to allow outdoor hospitality reopen during the last week in May is also being considered.
The Cabinet will be presented today with a plan for a quicker-than-expected reopening of social and economic life in the next two months following lengthy talks between health chiefs and the leaders of the coalition parties last night.
€9 Pub Meal to go
The Government likely to scrap the €9 substantial meal rule which was in force last summer. 
Speaking ahead of a Cabinet Covid sub-committee meeting, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said there won’t be a distinction between wet pubs and pubs that serve food when the hospitality industry is allowed to reopen.
Last summer some pubs serving food were allowed to reopen alongside restaurants with a rule that a customer had to have a “substantial meal” to go with their pint.
So-called ‘wet’ pubs were only able to open for a few weeks in the autumn while in Dublin pubs in this sector never reopened at all.
The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) maintains the €9 meal requirement is an “outmoded regulation” and have previously called for clarification that it will not be re-introduced this summer.
When asked if the €9 substantial meal rule will feature for summer 2021, Minister Ryan said:
Restored Canal to boost Border Tourism
A section of a disused canal in the border region of Monaghan and Fermanagh will be restored and reopened as a public amenity more than 90 years after it was abandoned.
The final piece of a €12 million fund to restore the Clones to Clonfad stretch of the Ulster Canal has been announced .
€5.5 million will come from the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, in addition to €6 million already committed to the project from the Taoiseach's 'Shared Island Fund'..
The Ulster Canal opened for trade traffic in 1841 but fell into disrepair as the road and rail network improved.
The last boat sailed on the canal in 1931.
The money will be spent on transforming the overgrown ditches where the canal once flowed into a 1km stretch of water with a 40 berth marina.
Two new bridges will be built and a third heritage bridge will be restored.
There will also be a tow path, walking trails, parking and an amenity area.
DAA to report significant loss
Significant losses are expected to be reported in the annual results of the Dublin and Cork airport operator, daa, which are due to be published today.
The state company's annual report was brought before Cabinet on Tuesday ahead of a discussion on the expected reopening of the economy in the coming weeks and months which, it is reported, may include a return of some level of domestic travel.
There have been calls on the Government from within the travel industry to outline a timeframe for the reopening of the country to international travel as part of today's announcement.
Book of Kells revenue down 77%
Revenues generated by the Book of Kells exhibition at Dublin's Trinity College decreased by 77% last year.
A spokesperson said that revenues generated by the Book of Kells exhibition amounted to €2.9 million last year, which was a €9.8 million, or 77%, decrease from the €12.7 million that the exhibition generated in revenues the previous year.
The decrease in revenues was the result of a significant decrease in the number of people who visited the Book of Kells last year.
The number of people who visited the Book of Kells decreased by more than 70% to 296,058 during the twelve month period that ended on September 30, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Book of Kells exhibition closed on March 10, 2020, due to the pandemic before reopening on a limited basis on August 10 and subsequently closing again on September 19.
At the time of the exhibition's closure on March 10, 2020, 291,280 people had visited it during the year to that date.
Just 4,778 people visited the exhibition between August 10 and September 19 of last year due to a combination of a restricted reopening and a lack of overseas visitors.
