*Jean McCabe.
AN ENNIS businesswoman has said retail trade has fallen by fifty percent in some areas of the country since the start of the road blockades as part of the fuel crisis protest.
Retail Excellence Ireland (REI), the largest representative body for the retail industry in the country has called for the blockades to end and for meaningful engagement between all parties and Government.
Footfall in urban centres including Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Limerick has fallen by approximately 50%, with retail trade down between 30% and 50%, the sharpest single-day decline many retailers have experienced.
Consumers are limiting journeys to essential trips only, and discretionary in-store spending has, in the words of one member of REI, “fallen off a cliff”.
Within Co Clare, there has been “widespread damage” to the local economy since the commencement of the protests on Tuesday morning according to Ennis Chamber.
Jean McCabe who founded Willow Boutique in 2006 in Ennis is also the Chief Executive of REI. She stated, “We understand the very real pressures facing hauliers and farmers. Rising fuel costs are threatening their livelihoods and their frustration is entirely understandable. Retailers face similar challenges. But the hard reality is that the actions being taken to highlight those pressures are now threatening the livelihoods of thousands of other businesses and workers right across the country”.
McCabe warned that the disruption is creating serious pressure points across retail supply chains. “Our members in the grocery and fresh food sector have been absorbing increased delivery costs, overtime payments, out-of-hours surcharges, and rerouted logistics but they are reaching breaking point as a result of these protests. If these blockades continue, those costs will inevitably be passed on to consumers, creating food inflation at a time when household budgets are already under enormous strain”.
REI said forecourt operators are now reporting empty stations across the country, a situation exacerbated by panic buying and compounded by the lack of supply into the sector as a result of blockages at ports and refineries. “This is having a significant knock-on effect right through supply chains. No industry or sector will be spared from the disruption this is causing,” the past president of Ennis Chamber said.
Clarecastle native Jean added, “We are hearing from members and from their delivery partners that they are now looking at logistical rerouting, prioritising goods deemed essential, and rationing fuel across their fleets. This is where we have arrived, not as a result of fuel price increases, but as a direct result of the disruption being caused to logistics across the country and to fuel supply.”
She said the priority now must be constructive dialogue. “We are calling on all sides to come to the table. The current situation is unsustainable for everyone, for hauliers, for farmers, for retailers, and for the communities that depend on all of us. Prolonging the disruption will only deepen the damage”.
