‘LOCAL BUSINESSES NEED SUPPORT MORE THAN EVER’

Government supports for businesses and industries will be integral for their survival, according to Sligo Chamber President Karl Kelly, who talks to Ciara Galvin.

As Phase Two of reopening Ireland’s economy began on Monday, with more restrictions eased including small retailers opening, the chamber president said supports need to be put in place for the rest of the year to ensure businesses and companies’ survival, and indeed the ability for closed businesses to reopen.

Mr Kelly, manager of Brooks Timber and Building, Finisklin said his industry was lucky in that building merchants were first to open in Phase One of the reopening on May 18th last.

“We were extremely busy since we came back, building, DIY, no more than garden centres, people have had time to do things. We are one of the lucky ones.”

Asked how adapting to a new way of operating the business has been, Mr Kelly told The Sligo Champion it has been ‘a learning curve’.

“We started with the simple things and some measures we had in place before we closed, floor markings and the two metre signs were in place. We have perspex screens now in place and separation of staff.”

Mr Kelly said the new way of operating has only meant that conducting business takes a bit longer.

“People have adapted to this. Everyone was already queueing in supermarkets, they knew this is the format,” he explained.

The building merchant manager said online sales for Brookes increased ten fold during lockdown compared to pre Covid-19.

“Everyone has adapted. Twenty two providers on the Sligo Food Trail are now trading online. All these things are positive and we can do it while mantaining rules. As a region we took on board everything we were asked to do. People did get sick, but compared to elsewhere we’ve been very lucky.”

Mr Kelly explained that upskilling for workers has been a big part of the support offered by the Chamber.

“We have been supporting our members by Skillnet programmes, working with construction and pharma companies, doing online training on Zoom, Teams meetings. We sponsored those.”

The Chamber currently represents 300 companies who employ approximately 7,000 people across various industries, including pharma, manufacturing and tourism.

“We’ ll be lobbying for our members. Some industries we would represent are going to be impacted a lot longer than others, we’ ll continue to work with businesses. The Chamber will be supporting sectors lobbying the Government for supports out to the end of the year, to keep businesses open and get places reopened.”

When asked about the Government’s handling of the pandemic overall, Mr Kelly believes they have done a very good job, but admits it is a ‘ tricky point’ at the moment.

Mr Kelly said although some businesses have been relatively unaffected by Covid-19 restrictions, many have been ‘devastated’.

He continued, “Some industries are going to find it a lot harder. Government need to continue to put supports in there and continue to support businesses.”

Looking ahead, Mr Kelly has a positive outlook on the business landscape and indeed how people will work going forward.

“Sligo was in a really good place when this happened, and hopefully that means we will continue to be. We are stronger, it’s not like the last recession.”

Talking about the changing ways in people’s work life, he said working from home has been one positive from all of this.

“We [Sligo Chamber] had been using working from home as a way of showing how great a place Sligo is to live and work and now we’ve seen people on a large scale can do it. Longterm it’s the way forward and people have better balance, that’s the future.”

Mr Kelly even said his own way of conducting business has changed to a certain extent.

“I would have gone to Dublin for work once a week, now I haven’t been since February. This is going to go on for a long time ahead. There is a sense of positivity that it will come good abd we will be starting from a good position. We had a lot of inward investment and a lot of job creation before this.”

The chamber president said connectivity and broadband will be key if the region is to push on and recover from the pandemic.

“What we are pushing for in the town is broadband, the roll out of the national broadband plan. It will be more important than roads in some places. We have to get fibre. The likes of these hubs, such as the Building Block, these are the spaces where people can work remotely a few days a week. They can bring people together, showing that they can do as much, if not more than in an office and have a far better work/life balance.”

Kelly commended people’s resilience during the ongoing pandemic, but also highlighted how important it is for people to support businesses in any way they can.

“People’s resilience and ability to adapt is phenomenal.” He added, “There is so much we can do by supporting local, local can be online, we all need to support Sligo businesses. We always say for sports teams to support businesses who sponsor their jerseys, restaurants, etc. They need you now, their name is on your jersey, you need to support them now.”