A STATEMENT issued by Retail Excellence through their Group Chief Executive, David Fitzsimons states:

“Our members very much welcome the publication of the Governments Reopening Roadmap.

“It provides clarity to all retail members as to when they can reopen and re-employ their colleagues.

“It is clear that Irish Retail will need significant recovery measures to survive the current extended pause in commerce, especially shopping centre located retailers, who now must wait until August 10 to reopen.

“For shopping centre tenants this is, to the day, a five-month period of hibernation since March 10, when revenues plummeted.2

Some of the recovery measures required include:

Local authority rates cancellation for 12 months.

Three-month Government rent grant of 60% of the rent payable during the closure — now required to be extended to five months

Exceptional liquidity measures to shore up cashflow and keep businesses alive.

Consumer spending initiatives, once the economy reopens.

Reemployment measures to ensure as many colleagues as possible are rehired.

Established in 1995, Retail Excellence is owned by the members, for the members. We are an organisation which invests in innovative and exciting learning, market intelligence, human resources services, Government representation and member networking initiatives.

Retail Excellence has more than 2,200 leading retail companies in Ireland.

Their members are among the most progressive and innovative retailers. Retail Excellence is by far the largest retail industry body in Ireland.