Dancing still prohibited under latest hospitality rules while Communions and Confirmations may be permitted from September

Live music is to be permitted outdoors at weddings but dancing will continue to be prohibited under yet another change to guidelines for the hospitality industry.

Communions and Confirmations may also be permitted in September.

Newly published guidelines from Fáilte Ireland say “live music and other performances” are now permitted outdoors subject to public health guidance.

Live music is still banned indoors and dancing is not permitted either inside or outside. Music is permitted in churches or in any other wedding venue.

Wedding receptions must be a sit down meal held indoors and since yesterday 100 guests can attend.

It comes as the Government are expected to signal to the Catholic Church that Communions and Confirmations will be permitted under public health advice from September.

The Cabinet Committee on Covid-19 met today to discuss the current status of the fight against the virus.

Following a week of clashes with the Church, it was decided to set out a roadmap for the return of Communions and Confirmations.

However, the intervention follows several bishops instructing their dioceses to hold the religious ceremonies in the defiance of the Government’s guidelines.

The Government is expected to signal a roadmap for the return of live music.

Meanwhile, the newly published hospitality guidelines now allow customers book multiple tables and host outdoor gatherings with live music for up to 200 people.

Following the controversy surrounding Katherine Zappone’s Merrion Hotel party, Fáilte Ireland drafted new guidelines for hotels, restaurants and pubs that clear the way for large outdoor gatherings.

The new rules say a max of 200 people are permitted at organised outdoor events in most venues and 500 are allowed in premises with the capacity for 5,000 or more guests.

The guideline says multiple tables can be booked for outdoor parties but people must not intermingle and everyone must leave the venue by 11.30pm.

Live music is also permitted at outdoor events but bands must at least two metres from customers.

Outdoor areas must be “controlled and manned by employees ensuring a managed flow”, according to the new rules.

Face coverings must be worn by customers at any time they are not seated at their allocated table.

Customers must remain seated at their table except when they are availing of the food counter service, using the toilet, paying, arriving and departing.

Table service is recommended but people can also queue for food at buffets and barbeques. Tables should be kept a minimum of one metres apart.

The new guidelines follow the Attorney General Paul Gallagher clarifying that outdoor parties of up to 200 people are permitted after it emerged Tánaiste Leo Varadkar attended Katherine Zappone’s controversial party.

The Restaurant Association of Ireland Chief Executive Adrian Cummins said the new guidelines will “be impossible to police”.

“There rules are unworkable because how are we supposed to police 200 people seated at around 30 tables. Is there person who is hosting a party also not supposed to intermingle with the guests they invited?,” Mr Cummins said.

Meanwhile, the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) welcomed the publication of new Fáilte Ireland reopening guidelines.

“We welcome the clarity these new guidelines offer our members. Pubs are now permitted to facilitate outdoor parties for up to 200 people while live music makes a welcome return also in outdoor settings,” Padraig Cribben, VFI Chief Executive said.

“The new guidelines make clear we’re moving towards a full reopening of society and it’s now only a matter of time before all restrictions in pubs such as mandatory table service and the ban on people sitting at bar counters are removed,” he added.

Meanwhile, the rise in the number of daily cases of Covid-19 is not growing as quickly as health officials previously expected, HSE Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry has said.

Dr Henry said cases were “oscillating between 1,200 and 1,400 cases per day” and while this was a high number, he said it “was not as high as we feared”.

He said the link between cases and severe illness has been “weakened but not broken” by vaccination and added that hospital figures were “rising steadily, but it’s not huge”.

"We are now within shouting distance of the end of the vaccine programme, that has had an extraordinary reach, it has gone through all age groups eligible for the vaccine.

"I would ask people whatever the regulations are, whatever the policy changes, is to just take care and make sure that you don't let yourself be part of some gathering that can be an agent for transmission,” Dr Henry told Philip Boucher Hayes on RTÉ Radio.

Dr Henry advised caution on attending any outdoor gatherings despite updated regulations now allowing for 200 people outdoors at gatherings.

"I would be more confident in a few weeks' time when we see the vaccine programme reach through more of our younger population.

"There is still more work to do to complete the vaccination course for the 20s and 30s. I would like to see more completion of vaccination because we know with the Delta variant that the completed vaccination course affords great protection, whereas partial vaccination does not,” Dr Henry said.

Dr Henry confirmed that over 60pc of 16- and 17-year-olds have registered for a vaccine and almost 40pc of this cohort have received their first dose.

He added that anyone above 12 years of age can register for a vaccine from next Thursday onwards and that vaccination of this group will begin the following week.

Dr Henry said the HSE never expected such a high uptake rate across all age groups, with it being in “the high 90pc rate across all age groups”.

While there was some concern about uptake rates among younger people who have “less to fear from the virus”, Dr Henry said the youth of Ireland have bought into the “whole country movement” that is the vaccination programme.