Fresh calls for retail aid package as survey reveals sharp drop in footfall

* Grafton Street saw a reduction of 34% versus the same week in 2019;

* O’Connell Street’s footfall dropped by 28%;

* South William Street, with a large restaurant and pub offering, saw the greatest decrease, down 44%.

Numbers in the city are expected to fall further this week.

Reacting to the figures DublinTown has reiterated its call for specific supports to be introduced by the Government for retail businesses, in addition to the hospitality sector.

CEO of DublinTown, Richard Guiney, said: “While this drop was to be expected, they starkly illustrate the challenges facing businesses in the city. However, Dublin city has shown its ability to bounce back quickly before and DublinTown is calling on the Government to support hospitality and retail businesses at their time of need so they can emerge from the other side.

“We applaud the initiatives, like the Feed The Heroes campaign, being organised by people across Ireland to support front line staff with meal deliveries as they strive to keep us all healthy and safe.

"This should be considered in calls for the blanket closure of providers of hot food services. Many restaurants either already offer or have started offering a takeaway service and have redesigned their seating layout to reflect social distancing recommendations as a means of continuing to meet the community need for hot food.”

Mr Guiney went to suggest that in order to aid businesses in the city and their employees the group were are calling on the government to develop specific supports for the hospitality and retail sectors.

"DublinTown welcomes the Government’s provision of €200m of financial support through SBCI. We further believe that it will be appropriate to utilise NAMA funds to augment the SBCI funds available to ensure that as many employers as possible can maintain their presence through the crisis.

“We have continuously indicated our belief that the standard rate of VAT should be reduced to 20% while the hospitality rate be reduced to 10% as a matter of course. However, there is a strong argument to suggest that for the duration of this crisis VAT should be reduced to the lowest level permissible in accordance with the EU Directives.

"DublinTown also recommends the postponing of Employers’ PRSI until the crisis is resolved to assist employers in maintaining their core staff members.

Mr Guiney also suggested that as income reduces, businesses will find it increasingly difficult to meet their costs.

"The State through costs such as rates represent a significant proportion of these outlays. For the duration of the crisis DublinTown is calling for the state to meet these local authority costs through a HAP style scheme, which would see central Government meeting local authority charges. This scheme would unwind as the emergency reaches a conclusion.

“We are continuing our engagement with Government, and relevant local authorities, as we work together to find solutions to the issues at hand. We are calling for responsible, calm, and focused actions to achieve a collective effort, as people and their health will always come first. We are working to give our members the best advice now, in order to support them in the future.

"Our team is providing information to members, including materials for premises relating to personal hygiene, contactless payments and more. We welcome every responsible action taken by our members in this time of crisis, who are working hard in unprecedented times.”