Businesses face long road to recovery
Some Galway businesses say they may not re-open until late 2020 or well into 2021 – because they expect such low demand in the aftermath of COVID-19.
That’s according to a survey carried out by Chambers Ireland in the last fortnight, which also found that 64% of those surveyed reckoned it would take over two weeks to prepare their businesses to re-open – with over two thirds of them estimating that time at four weeks or more.
The costs of re-opening will be significant with some reckoning they will need up to €20,000 to invest in new stock alone, while virtually all business will have to invest in training staff in addition to health and hygiene supplies for staff as well as customers.
“The announcement of timescales for a return to work for different sectors last weekend is welcome, but these results, along with more in-depth work being done locally by Galway Chamber, show that the process will be protracted and costly for most businesses,” said Galway Chamber President Dave Hickey.
“It’s vital that we have a co-ordinated effort from government, state agencies, financial institutions, as well as local and regional authorities, working closely with business organisations, sector-by-sector, to deliver the supports needed to maintain viable businesses and the employment they generate across the city and county.”
The survey reports that well over half of respondents in Galway (62.5%) expect their income to be more than 50% lower than in the previous year with current and future cash flows being of most concern.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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