Northern Ireland’s sweeping six-week lockdown will inflict significant job losses and a “tsunami” of bankruptcies, business leaders have warned.
Representatives of retail, hospitality and other sectors accused the Stormont executive of mishandling the Covid-19 pandemic and said the restrictions, which start on Boxing Day, will devastate businesses and permanently damage high streets.
However, many agreed the lockdown, which was announced on Thursday, was needed to curb soaring infection rates that have piled pressure on hospitals and the ambulance service.
“It is profoundly disappointing that the NI executive had to take this course of action because of non-compliance of individuals and households with the Covid-19 regulations,” said Glyn Roberts, the chief executive of Retail NI.
Roberts predicted a “tsunami” of independent retailers going bust, costing thousands of jobs. He complained that supermarkets could remain open selling the same products as independent retailers and that many stores were still awaiting financial support payments from the last lockdown. “Where is the fairness in this?” he said.
Roger Pollen, from the Federation of Small Businesses, said his members would pay the price for house parties and other breaches of coronavirus rules and advice. “It’s been inevitable for months.”
From 26 December, all non-essential retail and close-contact services such as beauty salons are to close, with pubs, cafes and restaurants restricted to takeaway services. Wales has announced similar restrictions, which start on 24 December.
Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, said the surge in infections required “urgent intervention”.
Hospitals are over capacity, forcing ambulances at times to queue outside emergency departments for hours while patients wait to be admitted. Authorities in Dublin have agreed to lend paramedics from Ireland’s national ambulance service to Northern Ireland.
Angela McGowan, the director of the Northern Ireland branch of the Confederation of British Industry, accused Stormont of opening and closing the economy with no workable long-term strategy for living with the virus. She said: “This will come as a further blow after many months of hardship and once again puts further jobs at risk.”
Colin Neill, of Hospitality Ulster, said the sector had been dreading another lockdown. He said: “We do not welcome it, nor do we want it, but we support the decision to get the virus under control and get the hospitality sector back on its feet again as quickly as possible.
“It is with a heavy heart, but we will work with the government and abide by the decision.”
Neill said the restrictions would “sound the death-knell” for many businesses. “The impact on the economy will run into the hundreds of millions, thousands of redundancies and a sector dead on its feet.”
