Friends of Blackrock – these are exceptional times for everyone.

In the last few days we have seen alot of businesses temporarily close down as a result of following HSE advice on COVID19 restrictions. This move has been a heart breaking decision for any business in Blackrock. Most businesses in Ireland are small, less than 5 people, running a business they have built up over year’s of hard work and sacrifice. Our local businesses see their customers as more than a source of revenue – they are our friends and our businesses treat them like family.

The decision to close is an individual decision for businesses and we applaud any business which has to take that decision. But the impact on our businesses community is immediate and severe. Many businesses owners will now have stock that cannot be sold and may expire and never be sold. Many businesses have had to lay off staff immediately. Many businesses have business loans, rates, rents, utilities, VAT, PAYE etc … all bills which they now cannot pay.

We welcome the supports the Government has put into place from today for :-

• Social Welfare (www.welfare.ie)
• Revenue Payments (www.ros.ie)
• Business Loans (www.gov.ie)

We will be writing to our local councillors and representatives asking for further supports on our members behalf.

For now we thank our Blackrock Community for your support and in the coming weeks/months we are going to need it. People locally are following the advice and if we all continue to do that evidence from other countries shows the outbreaks will begin to lessen. We are waiting for the advice to be issued on 29th March 2020 keenly and businesses will reopen  – in time. Businesses will then need time to recover as things get back to normal and there will be time when this event will be a thing of the past.

We are exploring the possibility of selling vouchers online for our members via our website so you can help to support them now and use the vouchers when things are back to normal. It might make the difference between them reopening at all so we will keep you updates via social media.

We thank you for your continued support and it is reassuring to know we are all in this together. #weareallinthistogether.

The Blackrock Tourism and Development Group.

Follow our local businesses on Social Meda (Facebook, Instgram etc) and look out for Voucher updates.