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RETAILERS ARE PREPARING for extended opening hours from next week following the Government’s confirmation yesterday that Ireland will move to Level 3 restrictions.
Non-essential retailers will be allowed to re-open from next Tuesday, after remaining shut for six weeks under Level 5 restrictions during what would normally be one of the busiest periods of the year in the lead-up to Christmas.
Some stores are seeking to make up for lost time and are preparing for a pre-Christmas surge by announcing longer opening hours from Tuesday.
This morning, Penneys said it will keep its stores in Blanchardstown and Dundrum in Dublin open for a 24-hour period from Tuesday into Wednesday.
The retailer made the announcement as part of a notice saying all 36 of its stores across the country will open on 1 December, and that all stores will have extended trading hours.
Supermarkets including Aldi, Lidl and Supervalu have also announced extended hours in the run up to Christmas, although some are not expected to do so until the week before 25 December.
Meanwhile, the Government has also announced that it is considering issues around bus capacity, which remains at 50% under Level 3 restrictions, ahead of Christmas.
Last night, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan suggested operators could put on additional services, including late night services, to cope with a surge in demand.
In his address to the nation, the Taoiseach urged people and businesses to take personal responsibility for their own safety and keep the infection rate down during the Christmas period.
He said: “In making this decision, we are trusting business owners and we are trusting their customers.
“We all have individual personal responsibility, and by closely following the rules we believe we can make this reopening sustainable.”
Retail Ireland, the Ibec group that represents the retail sector, welcomed the confirmation that retail will reopen fully.
The group’s director Arnold Dillon described the weeks ahead as “make or break” for many retailers.
“Every day matters. It’s crucial that customers support those businesses that have been badly hit by Covid restrictions,” he said.
“Public safety is the absolute priority. Retailers have gone to enormous lengths to protect staff and customers. Additional measures will be taken over the coming weeks, including extending opening hours to better spread customer numbers across the whole day.”
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I hope this is stopped with whatever government comes in, can’t believe that we spend 3 billion and don’t even Owen it, this is not right
@Mick Hannigan: Insanity we won’t own the network but it won’t be stopped. It is all about transfering public money into private hands. Neo-liberalism 101.
@Mick Hannigan: €1 million to ‘ legally’ give away €3 Billion… welcome to FFG world!!!!
@M Bowe: another million on top of the €7 million spent to date on legal fees fighting the €13 billion Apple fine.
@Mick Hannigan: They should just wait another year or 2 for musks starlink. Satelite broadband low latency and most likley cheaper than all other providers. I dont understand how they can charge up to 75 per month here and u get 2 times speed on continent for less than half the cost.
All those projects are going to end up very bad i.e. with the usual tribunal attached to the end of it.
Most expensive broadband in the world.
Most expensive hospital in the world.
Either Blues are dopes or simply corrupted beyond recognition….
@Willy Mc Entire:
I think the FUBAR acronyn describes it perfectly.
€980k isn’t an exorbitant sum in legal fees over two years given the size of the underlying contract; however, expect the final figure for legal fees to end up being many multiples of that figure
So what happens when Elon Musk’s starlink is operational, would we even need a rural wired broadband?!?
Look like this problem is soon to solve itself and we will have wasted €3,000,000,000 of taxpayers money
@Tony Gordon: never mind starlink, closer to the ground youve got FWA and 5G in place by the end of this year – all done by private companies on a commercial basis.
@Tony Gordon: Was just going to say the same thing. New technologies will render it redundant by the time it gets done. A complete misappropriation of taxpayers money.
@Tony Gordon: A giant vanity project by Musk which will lose investors a fortune. Even 5G has already surpassed anything Starlink can offer, so will only be an attractive offering in areas where 4/5G is not an option, and areas where 4/5G are not currently available tend to be either low population density areas or poor areas. Even if Starlink is to break even it’s offering will be expensive.
@Tommy Roche: expensive maybe….3bn euro buys a lot of data
Government – can you please quote us for two years of legal fees
Legal firm – yes no problem it will be 979,999.99
I always love knowing somebody’s budget before i bid a job!
Wait wait…. *grabs popcorn*….. and Go!
No need for it now, Imagine doing a fine job.
Just get it done please.
@sean de paore: no, let’s not.
Elon musk will have broadband globally once project star link is up and running . Clowns.
There is more than 1 virus destroying this economy, & outrageous legal costs is up there.
Surely our AG has his own team of leagle beagles, so why this expense on top?
Just read the motor insurance claims analysis, & 33% of settlements went to lawyers. That indicates that there is huge scope to cut insurance premium costs, if the state sets up a 3rd party only insurance, on regulated compensation terms, & let the foreign outfits offer better policies on a competitive basis.
Same for voluntary non profesdional sports & social organisations to halt the steady destruction of these by liability insurance cost.
@Ollie Conroy: fwa is garbage, I’m on so called 5g and have 2mb right now and every evening and weekend.
Have you any idea of the density and backhaul needed for 5g.. and the continual replacements that will be needed to “fix” Xg every 5 years or so. We’ve flogged the fwa horse enough already.
have your say