It’s getting tense.

Representatives for the hospitality industry will meet with Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin today to discuss the government’s controversial decision to push back the reopening of indoor hospitality by at least two weeks.

Yesterday’s decision to reset the reopening date to July 19th at the earliest was met with fury by those in the industry, many of whom had invested heavily on the basis that they would be able to reopen according to schedule.

Suggestions that restaurants and indoor pubs could reopen on the basis of allowing in only those who have been fully vaccinated have also been dismissed as “unworkable” by those in the industry.

The Corner Flag Pub in Turner’s Cross, for example, tweeted: “Another kick in the teeth today for our industry! Enough is enough. This farce of a government need to answer real questions now and stop bluffing the whole country and making it up as they go along.”

Vintners’ Federation of Ireland Chairperson and proprietor of Cork pub The Castle Inn Michael O’Donovan appeared on The Tonight Show last night to voice his industry’s qualms with the latest developments, calling for a definitive reopening date.

Others in the industry, such as Kerry restauranteur Paul Treyvaud, have called for a protest involving “the aviation sector, entertainers and musicians.”

The decision to suspend the reopening follows rising concerns over the Delta variant of Covid, which is believed to be around 50% more transmissible than the current, dominant Alpha variant.