Shops to be allowed to reopen in Derry on Friday, Diane Dodds confirms

She stated: "Very pleased to be able to confirm that non-essential goods retailers in Northern Ireland can re-open from Friday, June 12. The re-opening of our local shopping sector is a significant step forward in the Executive’s pathway to recovery."

Retail NI Chief Executive Glyn Roberts said: “We strongly welcome this decision to reopen our retail sector this Friday - it is a major step forward for rebooting our economy as a whole. There is a long and hard road ahead for our local economy, but I have no doubt our retail sector will be at the cutting edge of this recovery”

“While we have made good progress on reopening the retail sector, we need to ensure that our high streets are safe and compliant with medical guidance in order to fully reassure consumers”

“Retail NI has written to the Executive to ask Ministers to establish a High Street and Retail Advisory Group to ensure the Executive can move forward with the safe reopening of our town and city centres alongside this retail reopening plan”

“This will no doubt involve the repurposing and reimaging of public spaces to accommodate queuing customers as well as significant changes to public transport”

“We also need a Northern Ireland Reopening High Streets Safety fund to assist Local Councils and traders to implement plans to reopen town and city centres”