‘We are shell shocked’: Dublin restaurants angry over indoor dining ban, Irish Times Sept 20

Along with Ross Lewis (Chapter One), Kevin Arundel (Chophouse), & Shane Molloy (Riba), Lola comments on the recent government ban on indoor dining..

..... "At Las Tapas de Lola, on Camden Street, Vanessa Murphy, who co-owns the restaurant with Anna Cabrera, is coming to terms with the news. “We are a little bit shell shocked at the moment,” she says. “We remained in lockdown for the 110 days, and didn’t open for take away because we felt it wasn’t essential, but this time around, we will certainly be looking at it, because we are all in survival mode at the moment.”

Las Tapas de Lola has an outside terrace, but social distancing guidelines have impacted on the space. “We’ve three tables now – you can’t open with three tables. There are not very many restaurants in the city with enough outdoor seats to make it viable to open,” Murphy says.

She is critical of the thinking behind the ban on eating indoors in restaurants and believes the sector has been compliant and observant of regulations. “I think decisions are being made without speaking to people on the ground and without seeing what’s actually happening on the ground......”