600 local shops to close by end of year

Up to 50 newsagents are going out of business every month, according to the Convenience Store and Newsagent Association.

The organisation said this means an average of 130 people in the industry are losing their jobs each week.

It is predicted that 600 more local shops will close their doors by the end of this year, with the loss of 7,000 jobs.

However, chief executive of the CSNA Vincent Jennings said because the losses are staggered people do not realise the scale of the problem.

“Because these jobs are being lost a handful at a time many people don’t realise the scale of the disaster, but this is a virulent cancer eating away at communities all over the country,” said Jennings.

“The speed at which small enterprises are being driven out of business is unprecedented. It is truly a national wipeout but approximately 60 per cent of the closures are north of the line between Dublin and Galway.

“As the government considers its economic framework it must do everything possible to sustain jobs and small businesses. Failure to do so will eviscerate the lifeblood of Ireland’s domestic economy,” added Mr Jennings.

“Taoiseach Brian Cowen says that Ireland has to redouble its efforts to sustain employment and he personally insists that jobs are his number one priority. This sentiment should not just apply to companies like Dell or Intel.”

Jennings said that there were a number of actions that the Government could take immediately to make it easier for small businesses to survive.

“In the United Kingdom they have designated an entire government department as being charge of regulatory reform to make businesses of all sizes operate more smoothly,” said Vincent Jennings.

“We desperately need a similar approach here. There are now so many regulations either existing or incoming, from new litter bye-laws to tobacco display bans and other compliance issues which will cost shopowners large amounts of money that they neither have nor are capable of borrowing in this climate.

“I call on Brian Cowen and his Cabinet to live up to his pledge on jobs. The Government must look at the regulations and potential regulations it has under its control.

“And, above all, it must not do anything that will cost struggling shopowners money they simply do not have at this time.”