Dublin Town chief reports increase in city-centre footfall

The Chief Executive of Dublin Town, the organisation that promotes business in the city centre, has said there has been a significant increase in the number of people walking through the city centre in recent days.

Data gathered by 13 cameras located across the city showed a 68.5 per cent increase in footfall on Friday 17th April, and a 40 per cent increase on Monday 20th April.

The streets on which people are walking "do not have any open shops on them," Richard Guiney told RTÉ Radio’s News at One.

"That would suggest to us that they're not going to the grocery shops or the pharmacies but were walking through the city centre."

Businesses in the city centre "will have to be imaginative" to overcome the impact of Covid-19, if and when businesses reopen, he added.

Social distancing will be "quite challenging for the restaurant and bar trade," said Mr Guiney.

"Looking at China, we have seen slow increase in footfall. Streets there have seen 40 per cent to 60 per cent of what they would have had before Covid.”

More support will be required to ensure viable businesses remain so after the crisis, he said.