The grant is hoping to assist bars and restaurants as we head into the colder months of the year.
Cork County Council have announced that they are making a new grant accessible to businesses who wish to install outdoor heating and temporary weather coverings.
The grant should be able to assist those restaurants and bars that currently only have indoor seating, or a smaller outdoor seating area, which would minimise the amount of customers they can serve at any one time.
Speaking to Newstalk, David Joyce, the Director of Services Cork City Council, stated that the grants are being made available to keep businesses going through the winter, when outdoor eating and drinking may become less popular:
“It was extremely popular [during the summer], people loved the al fresco dining experience and we understood that going forward this needed to be replicated and continued during the winter so we are making a grant available of up to €2,000 per premises to winter proof their outdoor seating.
“That will involve potentially the erection of things like parasols, maybe heaters, maybe lighting to try and encourage and continue with the very, very successful experiences we have been having with the on-street dining across the city.”
It is a similar move to the recent announcement by Dublin City Council, who have introduced new measures to allow for additional outdoor space to help businesses to remain open over the three weeks of Level Three restrictions.
However, the CEO of the Restaurants Association of Ireland Adrian Cummings thinks that similar grants should be provided elsewhere around the country:
Update
Well done @corkcitycouncil offering grants to help businesses install outdoor heating & temporary coverings to keep the al fresco dining experience going
Restaurants Association of Ireland calling on @DubCityCouncil @LordMayorDublin @hazechu to follow Corks leadership
— Adrian Cummins 🇮🇪🇪🇺 (@adriancummins) September 24, 2020
