Outdoor dining u-turn as public facility now ‘unlikely’ in Athlone

The concept of an "outdoor summer" in Athlone received a setback this week as the council confirmed it's now unlikely to install any shared public facilities for outdoor dining in the town.

In April, the local authority said it was looking at four potential locations where communal outdoor seating and infrastructure might be provided in the centre of Athlone.

However, at a meeting this week, council Director of Services Barry Kehoe said it had ultimately applied for State funding towards one outdoor dining facility - alongside the Athlone Castle walls - and this one was considered "unlikely" to go ahead.

Mr Kehoe cited a lack of interest from nearby hospitality businesses as a reason why the shared outdoor dining space, at the small car park off Main Street and Castle Street, was no longer expected to be developed.

He also stated that the pace of public procurement meant the council would not have been able to provide the outdoor infrastructure until "October or November" at the earliest.

"In fairness to the businesses in that area they're making arrangements themselves, either on their own private (ground) or in the public domain around their existing businesses. They seem to be happy enough to move in that direction," he said.

"What's influencing everybody is the prospect of indoor dining and hospitality opening on July 5, so if that happens, and we hope it does, it really takes the pressure off in terms of the provision of outdoor facilities.

"There's no point in us spending significant public money on what would essentially be (an outdoor) building that nobody wants to use. Unless the businesses want it, and will service it, and maintain it, there's no point in us providing it."

During the meeting on Monday, Green Party councillor Louise Heavin voiced disappointment at the update from the council, saying she feared it was "missing a trick" by not putting new public facilities in place when it had the chance to do so.

"We should be taking this as an opportunity to create public spaces for our town, and there's plenty of them needed," said Cllr Heavin.

"You're saying that we will be open for indoor dining in a couple of weeks but there's no guarantee that's going to go ahead. Most of us have been listening in to the news about the Delta variant which is posing a serious risk to reopening different things over the next couple of months.

"Is it not the case, in other councils, that the council takes ownership of this (outdoor dining) space and maintains it?" she asked.

Mr Kehoe said that in order for the council to provide a shared outdoor dining space a minimum of three businesses had to give an undertaking to use it.

"In fairness, (the council) can't be there when this closes at 11pm, picking up glasses and bottles and bringing them back to the establishment they came from. We can't be cleaning up anything that spills on the ground.

"We're not in a position to take that level of responsibility, or to lock it up at night so that it doesn't get occupied, and so on. That has to be (done by) the businesses. So, unless the businesses need and want it, there's no point in providing it."

The meeting also heard that there had been a number of complaints by local residents about noise and other issues arising from the reopening of outdoor hospitality at the beginning of last week.

"We're aware of a number of complaints about outdoor dining, and the noise that it causes. Unfortunately that was inevitable, to an extent. We're working with the Gardai and the business owners to reduce that and to deal with it where it arises," said Mr Kehoe.

Athlone Moate Municipal District Manager Jackie Finney said the district had issued three 'Section 254' licences which allow hospitality businesses to extend their area of operation onto public spaces such as footpaths.

She said conditions were attached to these licences around trading hours, limiting nuisance to others, cleaning up at the end of each evening and disposal of waste.

Ms Finney added that the licences would be in effect until December 31, at which stage they could then be reviewed by the council.

"We're communicating with the Gardai on an ongoing basis in relation to the licences that have been issued and the conditions attached to them," she said.

Ms Finney went on to say that the council had assisted some businesses by carrying out resurfacing works to facilitate outdoor service, as well as by foregoing parking spaces and allowing loading bays to be used for seating.

Cllr John Dolan asked if the council had been asked to provide any temporary public toilets in Athlone, as he was aware of complaints from people who had not been allowed to use the toilets in businesses that were currently trading.

Ms Finney replied it was the council's view that if a premises was open for outdoor hospitality it should be providing toilet facilities for its customers.