New €17m outdoor dining fund launched by Minister Martin

A new €17 million scheme for developing outdoor dining has been launched by Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin TD.

In co-operation with Fáilte Ireland county councils across the country, the Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme comprises of two parts and.

“Part one of the scheme will provide funding for individual tourism and hospitality businesses to develop and increase their own outdoor seating capacity,” says a statement from Fáilte Ireland.

“Funding allocated under part two will enable local authorities to develop permanent outdoor public dining spaces in towns and urban centres, similar to those that exist in various European cities.”

Announcing the scheme, Minister for Tourism and Dublin-Rathdown TD Catherine Martin said: “This scheme has two main objectives: firstly, to enable individual tourism and hospitality businesses increase their dining and seating capacity in the short-term and secondly to enable a long-term strategy for local authorities to develop appropriate permanent weatherproofed outdoor dining infrastructure.

“The aim is to support jobs and businesses and to transform appropriate outdoor spaces within our cities and towns as welcoming, vibrant places that will help support economic recovery.

“This funding announcement further strengthens this Government’s commitment to the development of rural towns, as outlined in the ‘Our Rural Future’ plan announced earlier this week.”