Good news for NI hospitality

Hospitality Ulster chief executive Colin Neill questioned whether the money spent on rolling out the scheme, which was introduced in Northern Ireland little more than two months ago, could have been better spent elsewhere.

He was speaking to the News Letter as First and Deputy First Ministers Paul Givan and Michelle O’Neill announced that the covid certification requirements – dubbed vaccine passports – will begin to be rolled back from next week onwards.

“Obviously we welcome the removal of punitive restrictions that have been harming our industry,” he said.

“Many of these were introduced to deal with the omicron variant and, thankfully, the worst predictions there haven’t come to pass.

“So it’s right that these are removed.

“It is disappointing that nightclubs, when they reopen, will still have to have the covid passes but we hope that they will be removed along with all the other regulations when the Executive meet again on the 10th.”

Mr Neill continued: “We have seen a lot of money spent on things like the digital covid pass.

“Could it have been done with the blue vaccination card, simply, at no cost?

“Those monies could have been directed towards initiatives to help hospitality, on ventillation perhaps.

“It was hand-over-fist on digital when we were told we could accept the blue card anyway.”

The Hospitality chief added: “The big thing around this too was that the messaging from government probably did as much damage to the industry as any of the regulations.”