New figures have highlighted the impact the coronavirus is having on Dublin city centre.
Data from DublinTown, a group representing businesses in the capital, has shown that footfall has continued to plummet as people work from home and exercise social distancing.
Footfall in Dublin city centre, between Monday 16th March to Sunday 22nd March, dropped by 65.8%.
The numbers on the streets on St. Patrick’s day was down 71.7% compared to the same day last year.
The data showed that streets with the high concentration of hospitality businesses were most impacted. South William Street recorded a reduction of 85% while Grafton Street saw a drop of 75%.
This means approximately 200,000 less people visiting the city centre each day.
DublinTown CEO is Richard Guiney;
“Many of our members are small, family owned independent retailers, restaurants and bars. Right now their ability to get through this is dependent on their cash reserves and personal savings, but few have sufficient reserves to stay afloat for the prolonged period of several months that this crisis may last for."
He says employers need to be assisted to retain their staff and that innovative schemes will be needed to make this possible.
