Robert Murray, President Of Drogheda & District Chamber welcomes the announcement of a new scheme delivered in partnership between Fáilte Ireland and Louth County Council will help tourism and hospitality businesses in Louth to develop and increase their outdoor seating capacity, a Fine Gael Deputy said.
Funding allocated under the scheme will also enable Local Authorities to develop permanent outdoor public dining spaces in towns and urban centres across the country, similar to those that exist in various European cities.
O’Dowd said: “Earlier this week, government launched a new policy entitled Our Rural Future, the most ambitious and transformational policy for rural development in decades.
“Developing outdoor dining and socialising spaces will help to improve the vibrancy of our local towns and bring them more in line with the European model. This is a key commitment in our new policy.
“Today’s announcement regarding the new Outdoor Dining Scheme has two aims. It will enable individual tourism and hospitality businesses to increase their dining and seating capacity in the short-term and will also create a long-term strategy for our local authority to develop appropriate, permanent, weatherproofed outdoor dining infrastructure in our county.
“I wrote to Failte Ireland earlier this month on the importance of making this particular scheme available to businesses in County Louth considering the devastating impact the pandemic has had on the Hospitality sector and I’m delighted that will now be the case. (response below).
“This will support jobs and businesses and transform appropriate outdoor spaces across the county as welcoming, vibrant places that will help support economic recovery.”