A pub in south Dublin has closed after a staff member contracted Covid-19.
The Old Orchard in Rathfarnham said it was in the process of testing all staff members, adding that "anyone that has visited us since we reopened at the end of June will know how seriously we have followed the guidelines that were issued".
The pub, which is owned by the Charlie Chawke group, said it would be closed "until further notice" in a statement.
"We feel it is the responsible decision as the health and well being of our staff and customers is of upmost importance to us. Due to an isolated incident of a staff member testing positive for Covid 19 outside of the workplace, we will be closed until further notice. We are in the process of having all staff members tested to rule out any possibility of it being on our premises."
Wet pubs
The news comes as Cabinet approved a new reopening date of September 21st for all wet pubs.
Over the weekend, The Irish Times reported that Fáilte Ireland had drawn up new guidelines for the sector, which included reducing social distancing measures to one meter in a controlled environment.
As with restaurants and pubs serving food currently, all customers will be required to have left the premises by 11.30pm.
The guidelines also state that customers should be served at the table, to avoid crowds gathering at the bar, and pre-booking or time-limited slots will not be required if a physical distance of two metres can be maintained.
This will mean that pubs operating under these conditions will not have to limit customers to spending no longer than 105 minutes on the premises.
