The President of the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce has called on the NI Executive to urgently clarify what COVID support measures will be available for North West businesses.
With the cancellation of Halloween festivities and the move to make all hospitality services outdoor, takeaway and delivery services, businesses in the North West stand to lose hundreds of thousands of pounds in revenue.
The Chamber is calling on local Ministers to outline what support they will bring forward to avoid business closures and thousands of redundancies.
President of the Chamber, Redmond McFadden said: “These new restrictions are the last thing we wanted to hear and will have a deep and profound impact on businesses in Derry and the wider North West region.
“Whilst we understand why they are necessary; it is going to be desperately hard for businesses to make this work and get through this without a serious injection of financial support measures.
“Derry is a global destination at Halloween so to have these restrictions come into force at the same time is a body blow to local hotels, restaurants, cafes, pubs and visitor attractions. This in turn will impact on our retail sector with a huge drop in footfall, and the wider supply chain network. It is hard to imagine this coming at a worse time, particularly when consumer confidence was starting to grow again.
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“The Executive must put in place support measures to allow businesses here a fighting chance. Otherwise it will be lights out for many of them and the possibility of thousands of redundancies in a region that has one of the highest unemployment rates in the UK.
“Whilst the primary concern will be for public safety, we would urge everyone in the region to please follow public safety guidance and act responsibly. It will only be by the collective efforts of all of us working together that this virus will be driven down again.
“It is now paramount that the NI Executive clarifies exactly what sort of support measures will be available to local businesses at this time and I will be making the case for urgent support in meetings with Executive Ministers and local representatives today.
“I would also remind businesses in the region that the furlough scheme remains in place until the end of October and bounce back business loans are open until the end of November. It is imperative that businesses make use of what is available to them now.”
