Ireland is hoping that the time is right for the introduction of the country’s first ever cat café. Following on from the success of such businesses in New York and Japan, an Irish woman will open the cat flap on a Dublin premises to give patrons the opportunity to have a break from work with feline company.

Cats in a Cat Café

Cats in a Cat Café. Image by MsSaraKelly / CC BY 2.0

Georgina O’Neill is planning for her Cat Café to open in Lucan, a suburb of Dublin, later this year.

She is lining up a menu of barista-style coffee,  tea and a wide range of cakes as well as “a minimum of eight cats in the premises,” she said.

The owner believes that cats can have a very soothing effect on people and disclosed that one day she would love to open “a kitten therapy room to help people unwind.”

She believes that her premises won’t cater solely for “crazy cat ladies” and is confident it will have a much wider impact for all of Dublin’s cafe-goers, the Irish Independent reports.

With over 2000 Faceboook supporters and well-wishes already in her corner, Ms O’Neill is hopeful of an enthusiastic beginning to her enterprise – “to have tea and chill with the cats.”

She added that everyone was welcome, “providing they don’t have dogs with them.”