Gardaí make enquiries as businesses threaten to flout restrictions and reopen

ireland
Gardaí Make Enquiries As Businesses Threaten To Flout Restrictions And Reopen
Covid-related graffiti on a hoarding on the northside of Dublin. Photo: PA
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Gardaí are making enquiries into a campaign encouraging businesses to reopen next week.

An anti-lockdown protest is also planned in Dublin this weekend.

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Businesses across the country have recently been asked to open up on March 1st despite Level 5 restrictions in place.

A campaign named “Reopening Tralee” has been circulated online and leaflets have been dropped into homes stating that a group of businesses plan to reopen on Monday.

However, Ken Tobin, chief executive of Tralee Chamber, said he doubted anyone was taking this anti-lockdown campaign seriously.

“Most of the businesses that contacted us said they looked at the email and effectively threw it into spam,” he said.

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“We're willing to stay the course [of restrictions], and hopefully, with better communication coming out of Government, we'll have a better indication in the coming weeks as to when we can all reopen our business legitimately.”

Beauty salon

Meanwhile, a beautician in Cork city has said she will open her salon on Friday.

Speaking to Neil Prendeville on Red FM, Susan Ryan said she had made a “firm commitment” to reopen her salon, Susan Ryan Beauty, within the next week.

“When we went into lockdown first we took it on the chin. But there was a plan then.

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“We were told to make our salons safe, and we did that at a huge expense. Fat lot of good it did us,” she said.

Ms Ryan said the country was now in the longest lockdown of any country in the world and was “no better off” for it.

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Referencing a case in Dublin earlier this week in which a beautician was arrested after illegally reopening her salon, Ms Ryan said Christine McTiernan had shone a light on the plight of businesses like hers.

“Why can't sensible businesses who have done their utmost to do everything safely, honestly and carefully reopen,” she asked.

Ms Ryan acknowledged that her salon would likely be closed down by gardaí if she reopened.

“I don't want to do anything illegal, I want to follow the rules, but we can't sit at home like this any longer,” she said.

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