Hotelier Liam Griffin, the former Wexford hurling boss, says hotels being able to re-open earlier than planned at the end of this month is saving a "disaster" for the industry.
Griffin, who led Wexford to All-Ireland glory in 1996, purchased the Pier Hotel in Rosslare Harbour in 1976 from his parents and is now involved in running the Griffin Group.
He joined Joe Molloy on the show last night, and spoke of his relief at the relaxing of Covid-19 restrictions, which sees tourism and hospitality sectors re-opening on June 29th.
"You can imagine, we're closed down with a lot of expenses still going out the door and no income for over three months. We're heading into the summer season and, to be fair, we weren't supposed to be opening until early August which was going to be a disaster.
"I think in fairness to Tony Holohan [Chief Medical Officer] some of this stuff was set-out longer term in the hope they could do it shorter, and thankfully they can.
"It's made a massive difference to [be] coming back at the end of June, it's made a massive difference to everybody. It does make a good summer a possibility.
"Now I don't think it's going to be anything like other summers because it'll be slow to get off the ground. Until all this lifts, nothing is going to go back to normal in my view."
Griffin added that the one big outstanding issue for many hoteliers in their ability to re-open is whether or not social distancing rules are relaxed from two metres to one.
"There's a lot of detail to be confirmed between Fáilte Ireland and the powers that be on the health side. I suppose the one big imponderable is the one-metre or two-metres, that's going to make a massive difference to an awful lot of operators, particularly medium to small-sized operators, and to everybody to be fair.
Our CEO Paul Kelly, welcomes announcement by An Taoiseach @LeoVaradkar confirming reopening of hotels, restaurants, hostels, caravan parks, galleries & museums from June 29th.
A timely and much needed boost to the domestic #tourism industry. #StayLocal https://t.co/FVEF08ZL5o pic.twitter.com/ZRTPFvsjBe— Fáilte Ireland (@Failte_Ireland) June 6, 2020
"If it becomes one metre, and I'm not advocating for that, I think it's up to these people to make the call... I think it's going to make a massive difference and it'll help ease everyone through it.
"If it doesn't go back to one-metre I'd imagine several might not open, because it may not be worth their while.
"At the same time, we have to recognise the great job that has been done in keeping the rate down. I know there are anomalies and things have happened and it's been tough on so many families, I understand all that.
"But, to be fair, self-interest is one thing but I think taking responsibility is another. We've got staff of our own to come in and we've got customers to come in, and we want to have it safe.
"We don't want to be taking any risks - they've earned the right to set the rules when they got the rate down as low as they did."
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