Call for Christmas shopping restraint

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs has called on shopkeepers to help head off pressure on parents during the weeks before Christmas.

Mary Coughlan said shoppers were already being swamped "with a yuletide of goods and decorations in a rush to start the Christmas season".

She urged traders to show restraint as Christmas goods began to jostle for space on shop shelves with this week’s Hallowe’en items.

The minister said: “Christmas appears to be starting earlier every year. Christmas displays in shop windows, on shop shelves and the erection of Christmas decorations are putting families under pressure.

“Children in particular are being reminded that Christmas is coming – at a time when we have not even got over Hallowe’en.”

She added: “I understand the commercial pressures retailers are under. However, I would ask them to show some restraint at this time of the year.”