Nightclubs in Ireland set to have midnight curfew from Thursday

From Thursday all pubs, restaurants and nightclubs must close their doors at midnight in a new measure to lower COVID-19 cases.

The hospitality sector had only recently returned to normal after it was finally allowed to reopen fully for the first time since the pandemic began for the October Bank Holiday.

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As well as this, the Irish government is advising people to work from home from Friday due to the rise in infection rates.

COVID-19 vaccine passes will also be required when entering theatres and cinemas but not for gyms and hairdressers.

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Ireland has one of the leading highest vaccination rates as around 90% of over-12s are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with plans to give all over-60s their booster.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said in a statement: “We’ve got to make decisions today but also I think collectively as a society we’ve got to look out for each other and just be very aware that the situation is getting worse, and will get worse before it gets better.”

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Hospitality venues across the country were closed for 20 months from March 2020 until October this year, with a previous curfew on pubs and restaurants for 11:30PM.

Donall O’Keeffe, chief executive of the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) told the BBC: “We were told that if we waited until the majority of the public was vaccinated we would be able to get back to trading. Well we waited and that wasn’t enough.”

Ireland is the latest country to introduce curfew rules following restriction easing this summer, The Netherlands also announced last week that it would be asking hospitality venues to close at 8:PM during a 3-week "partial lockdown."

Becky Buckle is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter