The owner of a well-known Stranorlar cafe said they will refuse to reopen for indoor dining if it means turning some customers away.
The Hatter Tea Room owner Paddy McMenamin said he will not split up family or friend groups based on whether they have been vaccinated or have had Covid-19.
The government is this week considering plans to give people a ‘Covid Passport’ to prove their immunity to be allowed to enjoy indoor hospitality.
The measures are ‘crazy’, according to Paddy McMenamin.
“It’s crazy to think that we would have to ask our team to check if people were Covid Free,” he told customers on social media.
The Hatter Tea Room is taking a stand against the challenging recommendations and not reopening the indoor cafe until every customer can come in. They are currently operating with outdoor seating and with takeaways.
Paddy said: “We won’t stand at the door and ask families to leave their children at home, we won’t have one of your friends sit in the car if they aren’t vaccinated. We won’t ask you about your private life, if you have or haven’t had your jabs, if you have or haven’t had Covid.
“We hope you all understand our stance on this, we want people to come in and enjoy being inside our front room and not to have to worry about being turned away.”
Last week, NPHET said that indoor dining could only proceed one a “robust, non-reproducible and enforceable” system of verification of vaccination or immunity status can be put in place.
This led the Government to pause the easing of restrictions for the hospitality sector until July 19th. Work is already underway to develop a plan for a workable vaccine pass system.
