Appeal to waive business rents

THE Mayor of Wexford, Cllr. George Lawlor has called on private landlords to waive rents for the next year to ease the financial burden on businesses struggling due to Covid-19 closures.

The Mayor was joined by other public representatives, including Cllr. John Hegarty who also urged the council to offer its full support to Wexford businesses badly affected by the coronavirus restrictions.

Cllr. Lawlor said he was not talking about rent freezes but waivers, to prevent businesses closing while Cllr. Hegarty said the town and county will be ‘on its knees’ after the restrictions are lifted.

Cllr. Hegarty said the local authority previously spoke about the need to work with the business community and that is now more important than ever as there is a massive challenge looming on the horizon with ‘every town in Ireland and the world going to be in serious difficulty.’ Asking that the response be better in Wexford than anywhere else, he proposed that the issue be prioritised for discussion at a future meeting.

Commenting on the need for landlords to show support to businesses, the Mayor said ‘people are going to have to take unprecedented steps’.

‘That is something we should be encouraging. We, as a council need to be looking at this in a targeted way. We should be looking at the needs of the business sector.

‘I am calling on private landlords who have let properties to businesses which have been badly affected by Covid-19, to introduce a oneyear waiver.

‘If they continue to charge rents even after the crisis has abated, there is a strong possibility that businesses will close and they will be left with vacant properties anyway,’ he said.

Cllr. David Hynes said if a lot of smaller businesses don’t get support, they probably won’t re-open.

‘If we can’t give them whatever help is needed to try and get them back on their feet, I’m afraid are are going to lose a lot of them and then we will all lose.’