In what is being seen as another slap in the face to the restaurant sector, the government has said it is not renewing the Apoiar funding programme, despite the fact that restaurants are still massively restricted when it comes to opening hours. Until May 3, the boroughs that have moved forwards to the third phase of deconfinement, still see all cafés and restaurants forced to close by 1pm on weekends, and by 10.30pm on week days. Catering association AHRESP had asked for an extension of the programme until all restaurants were back to running normally. Restaurant owners have consistently complained throughout the Apoiar programme that government funding has fallen far too short.
