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IT’S EXACTLY A year since Leo Varadkar’s speech from Washington ordering the closure of schools and public buildings and calling on anyone who could work from home to do so.
The following days were marked by uncertainty and a not inconsiderable degree of panic across the events and hospitality sector, as workers and business owners attempted to decide whether it was safe or advisable to continue trading.
Three days later, following a hastily-arranged meeting with vintners groups, the government advised that all pubs should close for an initial period of two weeks.
Over the coming weeks, of course, restaurants would also close.
Tourism, events and hospitality would largely shut down.
While others adjusted to a new form of work in their own home, many found themselves out of work altogether as their industries shut.
For those people left with no work because of the pandemic, it’s been a very long 12 months. And when it comes to the 12 months ahead many believe it may take longer than that before they start to feel a real recovery.
We’ve spoken to people in a number of industries that were among the first to close a year ago – and have yet to re-open – to get their perspective on the past year and how they’re feeling looking ahead.
Daniel Smith works at popular Dublin city pub Grogans.
Staff at the pub put up Christmas decorations there in the hope they’d be able to open in December.
While pubs that serve food were able to trade for most of December, the others – what we now refer to as ‘wet pubs’ – weren’t. Grogans has been closed since Saturday 14 March last year.
Said Smith: “When we closed, we never could have anticipated it’d go on this long in our wildest dreams.”
“It’s beyond anything. I go out walking, meet people for coffee and that. But it wears it out of you. I think I’ve watched enough Netflix at this stage. I go into the pub to check up on things every so often. It’s mad it’s been so long.”
For Noel Carroll, it’s also been a long year.
“I think I’m sick of walks,” he told TheJournal.ie.
“My wife has us out every day of the week. I listen to podcasts as well when I go for a run in the 5k. Mainly business ones to try get ideas on how to improve.”
Carroll runs Carrolls Tours, a company that primarily catered for overseas tourists. That tap was also turned off in March 2020.
“I remember being on an industry call with Tourism Ireland or Fáilte Ireland, and a high-ranking official was saying there’d be no inbound tourism here until October,” Carroll said.
“My face turned white. And here we are, a year on. Here again.”
Niamh Parsons has been a professional trad singer and musician for the past 30 years. In the past she’s regularly toured across Europe and the US.
“It’s the first time I’ve taken a break in all that time,” she said. “It’s been a very strange time.
I remember heading into this week last year – Paddy’s Week – and myself and the people I know had lots of gigs coming up. A lot of big paying gigs too. Would’ve looked after my rent for a month or two. Then I had to go on the PUP. It’s been a long year, that’s for sure.
Megan Best runs Native Events and is the operations manager for the popular Body & Soul festival. That festival was one of numerous events due to be held last summer that never went ahead.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long,” she said.
“Time is doing a sort of weird thing where there’s no way of delineating one space and time from another when everything’s the same.”
For Best, it’s been a year of ups and downs. The cancellation of Body & Soul was an example of the latter.
“That was an emotional time,” she said. “It’s been such a huge part of my life for more than a decade. Even going back to that beautiful festival site. You develop a real relationship with the space itself.
But it was also a nice feeling too. I knew for the first time in more than a decade we wouldn’t be bringing 10-15,000 people here. A forced fallow year like they have at Glastonbury. So there was a sense of comfort. You could pause and reflect. And take a breather for once.
Tough year
Carroll worked with a number of tour guides from a premises in Dublin. Once it was clear there’d be no tourists, some of those tour guides were let go and the premises vacated.
“I’m operating from home,” he said.
“But for people in this industry, this is their livelihood. The tourist season is everything to them. It’s devastating for so many people. I just want to get back to work.”
The partial re-opening of society before Christmas raised hopes of some kind of return to normality in the new year.
But the huge spike in Covid-19 cases that has precipitated the longest and most sustained period of Level 5 restrictions quickly put paid to that.
“I thought we might be back in business by the end of February,” Carroll said.
“We’re here again. It feels like deja vu. We might get a trickle of business this year but it’ll be a long time before it recovers.”
Parsons said that with no gigs to perform at, her creativity when it comes to songwriting and singing “just went out the window”.
“There was a lot fear, and that’s not good for creativity,” she said. “I miss being able to sing with other people. Rehearsing together. My fingertips have gone soft from not banging out on the guitar.
I haven’t been paid for singing in the past year. I’ve been getting the PUP alright. I know my other friends who play traditional music. They’d play in pubs on a regular basis, and that’s all impacted with them losing earnings. It’s extremely frustrating.
Despite this, Parsons said that getting a break from the relentless nature of the industry has been welcome.
“I still get up to an awful lot,” she said. “I’m big into history, so you can learn more about the songs you’re singing. I’m taking that into some of the teaching I do too.”
Smith, from Grogans pub, said there’d been a lot of “really tough days” in the past year.
“Particularly around that time in the summer when there was talk of re-opening,” he said.
It was in early September that wet pubs were given the go-ahead that they could re-open in a few weeks. However, a deteriorating situation with Covid in Dublin meant that plans were shelved in the capital. And then, in mid October, the whole country entered Level 5.
“When you’ve geared yourself, mentally prepared, got all the training done, and then told ‘no’. It takes its toll.
Looking back at what happened, it might be a blessing in disguise we didn’t open for Christmas. But that was the toughest day of the year seeing other places opening up.
“I’m quite fortunate I live with my parents. But a lot of the staff have families, mortgages, rent to pay. They’re living on €350 a week, and it was €300 at one point for a while. I can only imagine how challenging it is.”
Going from being incredibly busy to having no events on at all was a bit of an adjustment for Best, but she said she is doing everything she can to make the most of it.
“We were on such a merry-go-round for years,” she said. “The business was so, so busy. It’s incredible the way the festival industry has exploded. From May to October, there were three-four big things on every weekend.
We were chasing our tails and it was getting to the point it was overstretched. It was really nice in a way not to spend a summer running around in fields.
Best said she’s treating this fallow time for her industry as a “learning opportunity”, to take a step back and plan how to do things more efficiently once they can do so again.
“The difficult thing now is the uncertainty going forward,” she said.
“We’ve no way of knowing when we’ll be able to book acts again. It’s hard not having a fixed date in your mind.
“But, on the other hand, we know we could put on an event to watch paint dry and people would go to it at this stage, just to get out of the house.”
Looking ahead
Best said that there has been contact with events promoters and contractors in the UK about the possibility of events there later in the summer, which may mean work coming her way. Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown would see the lifting of almost all restrictions by late June.
“I was on a call with a guy last week, and once that announcement was made his phone started hopping,” she said.
“He does equipment hire for events. But I think there’ll be a much bigger gap here. I think the licencing authorities will be nervous of okaying anything.”
She said it will likely be 2022 before we see any festivals of the size of Body & Soul in Ireland, but that events like these might be “smaller and more intimate” than before.
One area of concern is a brain drain in these industries as people out of work for so long have simply taken their skills and experience elsewhere.
“A lot of the crew and staff with their industry knowledge will have dissipated,” Best said.
“When they go into other industries, they’re welcomed with open arms. Stable jobs with 9-5 hours and weekends off – they’re probably not going to come back into the event industry. And that’s a shame.”
Carroll isn’t giving up the fight anytime soon but is realistic that it’ll take a long time for overseas tourism to return to its pre-2020 heights.
“It’s about survival at the moment,” he said. “The tourism industry has had knocks before. 9/11. The ash cloud. But this is the worst I’ve ever seen.
This year is survival. And the next year is recovery. Get that vaccine rollout ramped up. I don’t see us getting back to 2019 levels until around 2024.
Parsons will this weekend perform in her first gig online since the arrival of the pandemic.
“Yeah, I am a bit nervous,” she said. “I’d usually gauge the reaction of an audience and react to that. Now I’m singing into a computer.”
She said she fears that even when gigs are permitted to happen again, they could see venues at reduced capacity which in turns hits performers’ incomes.
“Bums on seats pay the salaries, and artists get paid last,” she said. “If venues are limited in the amount of people they bring in, that’ll mean less money all around.
“We’re going to be the first locked down and the last to be released. And we won’t be getting the same earnings as before this.”
The first gigs that Parsons has booked in are for her postponed tour of the Netherlands. That’s now re-scheduled for 2022.
“I’m feeling positive,” she added.
“I do a bit of teaching and supporting musicians through the Musicians Union of Ireland. The secret is to have a plan to do something different every day. [Singing] accidentally became a full-time job. It’s still my hobby. So it’s a great thing to have.”
Smith, who plans to emigrate in the near future, said that the pub industry will be facing difficulties even after they all manage to re-open.
“From the top down to the very bottom, anyone involved in the industry is definitely going to struggling,” he said.
“We’re not out of the woods once we-reopen. There’ll be a 12-month phase where places are bootstrapping, and money is going out as quickly as it comes in.
They’ll need time to get back on their feet. And it’s important they can keep those business supports after they re-open. So many jobs and livelihoods depend on it.
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Need to get the vaccine moving
@brian reid: it’s moving…we need more supply.
@brian reid: RIP to those who passed away and condolences to their families
@brian reid: Ireland only being drip fed with vaccines, it will take years.
@brian reid: it is moving quote rapidly
@Máirtín Ó Conghaile: no it is not
@brian reid: We have one of the highest rate in the EU per head of population and thats how the amounts you get are supplied.
@Michael Maher: ah give over. comments like that are so frustrating. Do nothing to help anyone or anything
@Michael Garvey: check our stats compared to the rest of the EU and then apologise
@Paul Furey: Germany and France are actively buying up unused Eastern bloc allocations, macron going after Sputnik, Hungary unilaterally approves it…Ireland doing ok admininistering the drip feed quantities arriving here, but we should be beating the bushes internationally seeking more…Nethayahu was on the phone to the CEO of Pfizer in the early hours weeks back…Meehole just not aggressive enough… ultimately i believe the UK will allocate a few milion doses to us, after they are finished wrapping things up in June or July
@Gary Kearney: you need to get out more often
@Mary Oliver: more virtue signalling
If the pubs were to open and the vaccine was put into the beer then 75% of the population would be vaccinated by the end of March I suspect.
@Marty Mc.: By the end of next week
@Marty Mc.: if only carlsburg did vaccines;)
@Marty Mc.: by the end of the week
@Marty Mc.: The whole country by Thursday. ;)
35 too many
@SprintFitz: Yes, too many.
On a side note, the sheer number of people out and about is ridiculous. And traffic density is very high. I thought the message was stay home? Seems that the average Irish person has a shockingly low tolerance to self isolating. Incapable.
@Finn Faulkner: You have to be out yourself to see all these people out and about as so you say same thing goes for the traffic. Or does it not apply to you as you’re the only one with a life and things to do?
@Finn Faulkner: very disheartening for people who are self isolating our family have not seen each other. People are doing their best while others are not following the restrictions. How come numbers so high in Wexford down one day then up again the next. It is a horrible time for all. No definite information about when people will get the vaccine.
@Finn Faulkner: how do you know? You out and about?
@Alanna Murphy: Maybe through the magic of a window he can see ??
@ger barry ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: perhaps he is a front line healthcare worker and sees the volumes whilst commuting?
@Michael Maher: Why the name calling?
@Dixieblue: from their twitter they are a piano teacher so I guess not
RE: “DixieBlue: @Alanna Murphy: Maybe through the magic of a window he can see ??”
@Alanna Murphy: True. I’ve never seen a piano near a window!
Piano players have windows too. Often, even close to their piano at home.
@Alanna Murphy: oh so piano teachers can’t see through glass? Ah right so. *rolls eyes*
@Dixieblue: I replied to the wrong person, it was meant for the person who assumed they were a front line healthcare worker. Lol.
@SprintFitz: but they were on their way out anyway……Covid can’t eliminate death from old age
@Damien Grogan: Do you ever read what you type? Have you any decency at all? Those are 35 grieving families. They may have lived many more years if not for contracting the virus and developing the disease. If you go on in real life the way you do here, how many people have you caused the deaths of? You are a sickening example of a human being!!!
@Damien Grogan: disgusting comment.
@Alanna Murphy: Which came about as someone assumed he was not.
@Damien Grogan: total Koc!!
How about news about vaccines and their rollout instead of a daily diet of numbers that most people are bored with….. and an explanation for the incompetence here with vaccines
@Marc Power: Nobody is forced to read. Plenty of articles daily of the vaccination here, just read those.
@Marc Power: you don’t have to read it.
It’s there for people who do.
@Marc Power: the vacinne numbers are released twice a week, rather than daily
@Marc Power: I don’t see incompetence, just a worldwide shortage of vacines.
@Marc Power: The incompetence, do you mean the ability to be very near the top of the leader board for rate of vaccination in the world. That incompetence.
@Florence Bass Abbott: he has a right to comment we don’t live in a police state yet,, I think!
@Liam O Connor: Don’t bait the thought police. it’s a lose lose every time.
@Florence Bass Abbott: who do you think you are?
You don’t like my comment sod off
@Dixieblue: you can be a sheep if you want and accept this nonsense but I am entitled to comment on this system if I want
Deaths still high but getting lower than the 80+ mark is positive. Be nice to see a reduction in the case numbers but this is probably due to the reintroduction of testing close contacts. ICU falling steadily the past few days is a great sign
11 million vaccinated in the UK already
@John Fahy: That’s great. Good on them. If only they hadn’t such a catastrophic response initially.
@John Fahy: wouldn’t necessarily believe it though, considering the cluster fook they made since the beginning of the pandemic.
@John Fahy: about 50,000 too many people won’t get the benefit of this vaccine tho. Plus you’re quoting jabs there not fully vaccinated… and the way they’re experimenting on the time between doses is remarkable behaviour
@John Fahy: less than 1% of uk population had been vaccinated, 11 million have the first of 2 doses . They also have over double our death rate .
@John Fahy: How many of those have had 2 doses? I hope Priti hasn’t been keeping count.
@bmul: Maths certainly wasn’t your strong subject at school.
@Leonard Barry: why ?
@Cian Nolan: it doesn’t matter it where they finish that counts
@Brian Lilly: better priti than Stephen or Sir Tony.
@Leonard Barry: Why don’t you use Whatsapp? Seeing as you two know one another……
such smugness, almost ironic considering how that train of thought most certainly did not come from a well fitted attic ;)
*not perceived as toxic!
Ireland should approve the Russian sputnik vaccine just like Hungary did.
@David Lee: Da, comrade.
@David Lee: will you test it first and we will see how you get on.
Do you have one on you? Id happily take it seems as its been trialed and approved in multiple other countries instead of waiting for Brussels dragging their feet and making a balls of this rollout.
@Teresa O’Halloran: With that Sputnik one you could end up on the moon after a jab.
@Teresa O’Halloran: It has already been well tested and proven to work
@David Lee: Trump said bleach worked should we have tried that too. Russia, now there are a crowd not to trust
@David Lee: Dragging their heels, like doing proper tests and terrible things like that
Going to work in the hospital each day this lockdown, the amount of cars and people out on the street is 100 times higher than the original lockdown. Sad to see. We’re all fed up, angry and anxious to say the least but please stay home.
Grim. I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend, get out but please remember stay safe and follow the expert advice.
@Seagoat returns: is it expert advise though, perhaps we need better experts
@Hugo Bugo: the expert that won’t even say sorry.
@Hugo Bugo: in terms of public health advise it is akin to international best practice however government policy emanating from this advise is of course questionable. Have a good weekend Mr Bugo
With theory of most not moving about how are we still on 1k in general is it work place issues or other
@Scott Crossfield: because way too many unnecessary shops still open encouraging people out….
@Bernadette Luby Walsh: garbage people visiting each other and infecting each other.
@Scott Crossfield: While case numbers are dropping by 6 to 9% per day according to Prof Philip Nolan, you may have a point. Some hairdressers / barbers operating back door – Newstalk Hard Shoulder this evening.
@Scott Crossfield:
We weren’t doing close contact before so we must have been missing a fair few…
The Deaths number while awful is an improvement… These are more hard number…
Hopefully we get a big drop over the next few weeks…
As I see it now we will get some release in March but not significant. No Schools or construction…. Maybe relax the 5K limit…
I say the big reduction will be April the 12th. Schools back, Construction back and hopefully no universities on site… On Site Universities was a killer in this and it was a disgrace that they were even contemplated…
@ed w: Bernadette isn’t talking garbage, both of you are making valid points, and it is the combination of all those things.
@Scott Crossfield: It’s still winter..cases be high until April. Not everyone is in a position to just sit at home. Lots of people have to help vunerable family members so they need to go into households. It has to be noted a large portion of the cases are transmitted in hospitals and care homes. People need to stop pointing the finger and focus on their own life.
@Joe Moore: It is essential that people help vulnerable family members, and hospitals and care homes are essential. It is OK for people to point fingers at people who are spreading the virus in a non-essential context.
@John Hazelnut: I don’t understand what it achieves though John.
@Joe Moore: It doesn’t achieve much, people are just venting and feel better for it. I personaly hate all the finger pointing and blaming going on, this virus will have changed people forever.
@Joe Moore: Hospitals, etc., are essential. If fingers are pointed at non-essential risks of spreading the virus, such as holiday travel abroad, or people going beyond a 5km limit, Government can act to suppress this non-essential risks, and they have done so already, in order to suppress the spread of the virus.
@Joe Moore: The virus needs to be suppressed as fast as possible, and the burden should not be loaded only on businesses, but private individuals as well.
@ed w: And it appears there are alarming spikes in some areas where Covid regulation limits to gatherings at funerals and afterwards were openly flouted.
@Bernadette Luby Walsh: name the unnecessary shops , because I’m sure you need food, you may need medical supplies ,plumbing and electrical items because a tap or light fitting doesn’t know there a covid virus in community, people need petrol and diesel to run their cars for necessary trips and need tyre and mechanical repairs for these vehicles, again your vehicle doesn’t know when not to break down, a small bit of thought before the throwaway remark please.
@Cowboy Paddy: schools will be going back on a phased basis starting this month as stated by the government..why would they possibly wait for over two more months? Figures should be in the around 200 to 300 by the end of this month as predicted by Philip Nolan… construction is now 50% more open than the first lock down and will be fully back in early March…please refrain from posting miserable nonsense and depressing people who are holding out hope of some semblance of normality returning in the next 3 or 4 weeks
@Charlie Murphy: I’m afraid I would doubt that we will be down to 200 cases per day within the next 3 weeks.
This is NOT at all like March 2020 total lockdown.
Some news from Israel. They claim to have found a treatment that cured 29 out of 30 moderate to serious cases. One to watch.
@Vonvonic: sounds fantastic
@Vonvonic: don’t tell Tony.
@joe doyle: It does and hopefully it gets out. It also gives confidence that they’re really getting to grips with the virus.
@Vonvonic: this is good news. While vaccines are the first line of defence in the fight against Covid19 no vaccine is 100% effective so we’re going to need therapeutics to treat it for the foreseeable future. If this one works its really good news.
RIP. Hope the cases go down further
There were hundreds of clueless sarcastic Irish people laughing and slaging the Russian vaccine on the Journal a few weeks ago. Euro countries now will have to ask the Russians for help and if Russia will supply them with what the EU now acknowledge as the Russian far more superior medicine.
@Michael Maher: They are very good with infecting people that is true. Amazing how many politicians die from strange illnesses there
@Michael Maher: When you read that some countries such as the UAE have approved the Russian vaccine and 20 countries have ordered same it does suggest that it’s 91.6% effectiveness is another useful tool in battling the virus. I think the name chosen was unfortunate it’s registered name, Gam-COVID-Vac, is more appealing.
This is worth reading and certainly worth considering and not rejecting out of hand just because of a prejudice https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00191-4/fulltext
@Gary Kearney: Amazing how many people have died because of so called mistakes by unaccountable crooked people in the HSE. Ireland is far from perfect when it comes to human rights.
Groundhog day, keep washing those hands
Another interested in really good analysis of all the data, check out @RiochtConor2 on Twitter. He puts up fabulous graphs and charts regarding the progress we are making. If gives good balance to Holohan’s message of doom each evening. (I’m not connected to this Twitter account).
The sooner we all wear FFP2 masks the better!
That Swiss Cheese model of prevention is very good.
Every rose has its thorn
@Luminary: The Zepherine Drouhin rose hasn’t any thorns.
@John Kieran: that’s a good point (if you’ll pardon the mild pun)
OK, so next up, is there any night without a dawn?
@Pseud O’Nym: or the fact that every cowboy sings his sad sad song…
@Luminary: and every night has its morn…
Is it just me that reads this as the vaccine is just another layer of defence against covid ie. Even when vaccinations are done we will still need to do all the other precautions? So nothing will change??
@Keith Dempsey: correct. The vaccines are NOT a panicea.
Truly tragic..RIP & Condolences to all.
Have to ask, how many people vaccinated today, can we get a Daily report of that aswell please.
Lockdown??????.
have your say