Business

PLATFORM: Many businesses have been let down in shameful dereliction of responsibility

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IT takes a lot to shock me after 40 years of working in the pubs and the hospitality sector. We served all sorts of characters during some of the most intense times in our recent history, so I thought I’d almost seen it all.

But I was honestly dumbfounded on Sunday when I heard Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill suggest the Executive was considering opening restaurants but without alcohol in the next phase of Covid restrictions. I am all for thinking outside the box, but that was outside of reality. This proposal was quickly dropped, but it shows how rudderless some Executive departments are when it comes to understanding the needs of businesses and their workers.

I remember the impact of the ring of steel in Belfast city centre and the security apparatus that drove people out of our commercial districts. I remember journalists and politicians coming into our pub during peace conferences and security alerts.

But throughout it all, when this place was showing some of the worst sides of human behaviour, there were always good people offering a warm welcome to anyone who crossed their door. Whether it was a pub, a restaurant, a café or a clothes shop, employers across Northern Ireland played their part in creating some sense of normality in the very abnormal environment we all endured.

It has broken my heart over the last seven months to see friends, former colleagues and even a few rivals, particularly in the hospitality sector, deal with the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. But when things looked absolutely bleak, our hospitality and retail sectors stepped up to the mark. They introduced new safety measures for customers and staff, they forged an entirely new way of doing business and they did it all while receiving very little support from the economy minister or the finance minister.

The truth is that businesses in these sectors have been let down by the Department of Economy and the Department of Finance. Figures obtained by the Irish News this week show that six weeks after Derry and Strabane was placed in enhanced restrictions and four weeks after the rest of the north joined them, only 51 businesses have received a payment from the Covid Restrictions Business Support Scheme. That is despite more than 2,000 applications for help. That is a shameful dereliction of responsibility to people who are in acute financial distress.

When I asked the economy minister about these failings in the Assembly, the response provided me with no confidence that there will be a gear-shift in delivery. It should be a fundamental principle of our Covid-19 response that if you ask any business or sector to close, you should provide them with the resource they need to keep the lights on and keep their workers safe.

How can it be acceptable that six weeks after asking people to close, they’re still waiting for support? The short answer is that it’s an embarrassment. We have been dealing with this virus for seven months. It should not be beyond expectation that the minister would devise a way to support businesses fairly and quickly. This points to a wider abdication of any strategic thinking from the Executive Office – we are now eight months into a global pandemic, with no action or recovery plan even at draft or consultation stage.

The SDLP is clear that during any extension of restrictions, support must be immediately available to workers and employers and must be delivered to where it’s needed. The economy and finance ministers must take quick and effective action to provide this support – delays are not acceptable and the truth is that if they don’t people will lose their livelihoods and iconic businesses across Northern Ireland will disappear.

Pat Catney, MLA for Lagan Valley, is the SDLP's business and enterprise spokesman and a former publican.