Traders: Don’t close street for lockout centenary

Dublin businesses have called for the reversal of Government plans to shut down one of the city’s main shopping streets for a commemoration day.

The Dublin City Business Improvement District (BID) said a lockdown on O’Connell St to allow the State and community mark the 100th anniversary of the 1913 Lockout and Bloody Sunday would see shops lose trade on one of the busiest retail days of the year.

Richard Guiney, chief executive of BID, which represents 2,500 businesses in the city centre, urged organisers to reconsider the plans to close the thoroughfare to traffic as it is expected to affect around 65% of potential visitors to the city.