ONE of Northern Ireland's leading hospitality groups last night announced the temporary lay-off of up to 800 staff due the growing coronavirus crisis.
While it is understood the flagship Merchant Hotel will remain open, the Beannchor Group will temporarily close most of its portfolio of bars and hotels.
The Dirty Onion and Yard Bird, The National, Bullitt, the Ulster Sports Club and the Park Avenue Hotel, all in Belfast, are among the group's portfolio.
In a statement, Beannchor's managing director Bill Wolsey said it had been an "emotional and extremely tough decision but if we do not act now, we will not have a business to return to".
It came as staff at the Newry-based fit out company MJM Marine were told that a large number of redundancies among its 300 strong work force was unavoidable.
Earlier Stormont's Finance Minister said no company in Northern Ireland would have to pay business rates for the next three months.
The extended "rates holiday" will form part of a £100 million emergency relief package announced last night by Conor Murphy to tackle the effects of the economic crisis.
The minister is also deferring domestic rates bills from April until June, due to the "worrying time financially for households".
The Sinn Féin politician said coronavirus was now "not only a health crisis but an economic crisis".
But lobby groups fear it is "too little too late" for many sectors in the north, where thousands of jobs are at imminent risk in sectors like hospitality, tourism and manufacturing.
In the Republic Retail Excellence has forecast that another 200,000 people will be out of work by the end of this week.
This is in addition to the estimated 140,000 people who have already lost their jobs since the measures were announced last Thursday.
Hospitality Ulster's Colin Neill said: "We are still a huge way away from what’s needed. It’s not enough and it may be too late for many.
"Many of our members are rapidly losing their businesses and staff and we need more measures to be implemented immediately.
"Indeed more than 1,000 people in our industry will have lost their jobs by the time people read your paper in the morning," he warned.
In other developments:
* UK government promise economic intervention "on a scale unimaginable only a few weeks ago".
* Calls intensify for schools to shut as universities close
* Streets deserted as bars and clubs stay shut on St Patrick's Day
* Further 10 cases confirmed bringing NI total to 62 and 354 overall across cases the island
