Restaurant owner can only look on as cancellations roll in

A LOCAL restaurant owner is appealing to government to reconsider its financial supports for the hospitality sector in light of the latest restrictions which have led to the collapse of their Christmas party business and larger family gatherings.

Michael Hughes, one of the proprietors of the Stockhouse Restaurant in Trim says their business will down at least 40 per cent. "All Christmas parties are gone. We had bookings of 12-15 people and they are all gone. And families meeting up with other families is not happening either. It is a serious revenue hit.

"This should be our haymaking time to carry us through January, February and March."

He said they are being hit on three fronts- Christmas parties are all cancelled, families are reducing social contacts and aren't meeting up with other families, and one in five calls last weekend were cancellations by people who were close contacts.

From 1st December, Mr Hughes said the Employers Wage Subsidy Scheme is reduced by about 33 per cent in their case and is due to drop again at the end of February. While he says he understands the reason why the government is switching to the Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS) to support the hospitality sector, he said it is not fit for purpose and says businesses will have to be down 50 per cent before they get any support which he said is not sustainable.

Mr Hughes says the government has reneged on what it said first and that where business is down by 10 per cent or 20 per cent they should still qualify for that amount of support.

He added that he agrees that the restrictions were needed but says the supports for the first time are not fit for purpose. "This is the first hiccup and it is at such a critical time."