Michael Moynihan: When small businesses close, communities are never quite the same 

My message to the next Dáil: When small operations which are rooted in their community close down, those communities are not quite the same afterwards, says Michael Moynihan

Married couple Darren Kilkenny, left, and Joe Byrne, right, with Caitriona Twomey of Cork Penny Dinners getting 'styled' in the chair. Joe, who has given free haircuts to hundreds of homeless people over the years at Joseph’s Hair Salon in Glasheen is preparing to retire in December after 40 years in business. Picture: Larry Cummins

You can expect the knock on the door any evening now. The polite tap which precedes an exchange with canvassers and candidates, the kind of conversation which usually concludes with ‘you might think of me on the day’, or some variation of that line, as they hurry off into the gloaming.

When it comes to the substance of the conversation, your columnist is happy to make a couple of suggestions. Yes, you're well able to make your own points, no-one is saying any different, but who among us doesn’t suffer from l’esprit de l’escalier?