38 locations across the country, including three in Dublin, will get permanent weather resistant facilities, to allow for a longer outdoor dining season.
It's part of a €9M project across 19 counties, from the Department of Tourism.
In Dublin the locations are Merrion Row, Suffolk Street, and Capel Street.
The first section of the scheme saw individual businesses given grants of up to €4,000 for seating and accessories.
All Local Authorities were invited to apply to Fáilte Ireland for funding under Part Two - Local Authority Weatherproofing & Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme - to develop streets and public spaces to facilitate outdoor dining in urban tourism centres, enabling access to outdoor seating for extended periods throughout the year. 38 locations are set to benefit under the Scheme with almost €9million allocated.
Minister Catherine Martin says: “The aim of this Scheme is to support tourism and hospitality jobs and help businesses develop new ways of catering for domestic and international tourists outdoors.
"Access to outdoor dining facilities will continue to be a key part of industry recovery as we look forward to 2022 and beyond. This scheme further strengthens the Government’s deep commitment to develop tourism and necessary infrastructure nationwide."
Delighted to announce the locations of 38 new outdoor dining facilities across the country to:
🟢support tourism/hospitality jobs
🟢help businesses develop new ways of catering
This is an important element in our recovery as we look to 2022 & beyondhttps://t.co/f2azrHroDl pic.twitter.com/uo6dWLbA0e— Catherine Martin TD (@cathmartingreen) September 8, 2021
Paul Kelly CEO of Fáilte Ireland says: "This Scheme supports resilience and survival in the short term and the recovery of the tourism sector in the long-term. Outdoor dining and hospitality will now be a permanent feature of our hospitality offering and businesses need to be supported to facilitate this for longer periods throughout the year.
"We have learned during COVID-19 that people want the option of dining outdoors; this scheme will make dining areas suitable in a wider range of weather conditions so that they can be used for longer periods of the year, helping businesses towards sustainable recovery."
