Hopes for reopening after ‘awful’ time for Inishowen traders while shop local response praised

In what has been a turbulent time for retailers and trades deemed non-essential, the next weeks will be crucial as the festive period over November and December can make up as much as 45% of their annual income.

Many local businesses have been able to offer click and collect services, while several groups have been set up to help them such as the Buncrana and Inishowen Shop Local Initiative on Facebook.

In Carndonagh, local business owner and chair of the Carndonagh Traders’ Association Deirdre Bradley said the past weeks and months have been “awful”.

She said that the COVID-19 infection rates have not fallen dramatically since the shops were shut down in Donegal pointed to local retail not being a major contributor to the spread of the virus.

“We are in lockdown four weeks and in four weeks nothing much has really changed.

“I feel the business sector has done so much. We had put all the measures in place, we spent a lot of money, we did all the cleaning procedures, we put in screens, the ‘four customers at a time’, and we are still penalised.

“The government knew the second wave was coming, that’s all they talked about. In March we all worked together, helped each other and took the hit quite willingly.

“We were told to flatten the curve, save the hospitals, give them time to get beds, ventilators, and what did they do? Nothing. We flattened the curve and now we are back at the same position again if not worse.”

She said opting to close down businesses again has had a major impact not just on income, but on the wider community.

“It’s our local communities that are suffering - you take the donations, the things we as business people would have handed out to schools and clubs at Christmas time, so they are suffering too. It’s had a domino effect.”

Buncrana Chamber president, Brendan Callaghan of Callaghan Jewellers, meanwhile, said yesterday that it had been a very tough period for traders in Donegal, but added, “saying that there, social media is helping us to keep our head above water.”

Brendan concurred with Deirdre that being close to the border with equivalent retailers open in the north hasn’t been helpful. “It’s like being closed and my next door neighbour being open - I’m not going to get any trade and he is, but it’s too different jurisdictions; two different laws, we just have to accept it.”

“We have to abide by our laws, and Derry has to abide by their laws.”

Turning to the response to the ‘support local’ campaigns, Brendan said: “It’s fantastic to see the support and indeed in the coming five weeks there will be a lot more ‘Shop Local’, because I know the people in the area know they need the shops and if they don’t support the shops the shops can’t survive.”

He was also optimistic for the future. “It’s strange times. It’s hard times but we will get over it, and hopefully in the next few months there will be a vaccine available and that will help curb it.”

Deirdre, who runs Deirdre’s of the Diamond in Carn, also welcomed the support of local people and said Click and Collect had proved very useful in many ways but not for bigger ticket items.

Deirdre said the fact that far more non-retail shops are open 20 miles away in Derry made for an uneven playing field, and spoke of the worry and stress business owners are facing in Donegal, as they still had rent, insurance and other fees to pay despite the closures. “We’re not the only industry suffering, I’m feeling for everyone. We have had help and advice from Letterkenny Chamber, Buncrana Chamber, we are all connecting up so some good has come out of it, but it has been bad. We just need the government now for us to get open.”

She added that the forthcoming Christmas Switch Ons will add some much need “sparkle” for local people in a year when we could all use a lift.