8 April 2021
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Minister for Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport, Gaeltacht and Media, Catherine Martin TD, pictured with Paul Kelly, CEO of Fáilte Ireland and AnnMarie Farrelly, County and City Management Association (CCMA) at the launch of a new Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme, a €17million funding scheme to develop and increase outdoor dining capacity nationwide.
Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard has said that a new scheme, delivered in partnership between Fáilte Ireland and Cork County Council, will help tourism and hospitality businesses in Cork develop and increase their outdoor seating capacity.
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.
Senator Lombard 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 towns across Cork and bring them more in line with the European model. This is a key commitment in our new policy.
“[The] 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 Cork County Council to develop appropriate, permanent, weatherproofed outdoor dining infrastructure.
“This will support jobs and businesses and transform appropriate outdoor spaces across Cork.”
Minister for Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport, Gaeltacht and Media, Catherine Martin TD, pictured with Paul Kelly, CEO of Fáilte Ireland and AnnMarie Farrelly, County and City Management Association (CCMA) at the launch of a new Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme, a €17million funding scheme to develop and increase outdoor dining capacity nationwide.