Economy needs festive cheer

CLARE’S economy badly needs whatever seasonal boost it will get in the next seven weeks, but with the country spooked by a severe recession and with a hairshirt budget looming, there are fears that festive spending will be down.
Several local business people told The Clare Champion this week that while expecting a quieter Christmas than other years, they are hopeful it will still offer an important boost to trade.
Traditionally, the festive period is the busiest time of the year for pubs and Gerry Collins, chairman of the Clare branch of the VFI, said he is hopeful this Christmas will be better than 2009, if for no other reason that weather conditions will almost certainly be more favourable. “Last year there was such bad frost that it killed things. We’re hoping that people will come out this year though.”
However, he doesn’t expect that there will be jobs for more people in Clare pubs. “I wouldn’t say that many will be taken on, people are struggling to keep what they have employed. They’re just battening down the hatches.”
The county town’s narrow streets are generally crammed with bodies in the week’s leading up to Christmas. Rita McInerney, chief executive of Ennis Chamber, she said it is likely that some seasonal jobs will be created. “Whatever the climate, things always pick up for Christmas and businesses are looking forward to it. It can make up a big portion of takings for the year, particularly in retail and hospitality and people who have reduced their workforce during the year will hopefully bring in additional staff.”
One plus she sees this year is that there are unlikely to be many people crossing the border looking for bargains. “2009 was very difficult and this year has been too, but we’d hope it will still be on a par with 2009. Last year there were people from here and even further south going to the North. This year we wouldn’t expect that to be happening to the same extent. People in the border counties would have felt it more but it was reported throughout the country.”
The Crusheen/Gort bypass will open this month, the Ennis-Galway rail line has opened, as has the Limerick tunnel, meaning that both Galway and Limerick are now far more accessible than in Christmases past. Ms McInerney says Ennis could also benefit from the improved infrastructure. “Those routes go two ways so hopefully Ennis will benefit, particularly at a time when the city centres get extremely busy.”
Michael Vaughan of the Shannon branch of the Irish Hotel’s Federation said there hadn’t been a huge demand for Christmas parties in Clare’s hotels.
“It’s a big worry in business because a lot of people seem to have a wait and see approach, due to the severity of the budget. A lot of people are not seeing the volume of enquiries that would have been expected, but people are doing a lot of different things, like offering less expensive packages,” he said.
However, Mr Vaughan said he is hopeful of a late surge. “I would think it will happen in the end but there is more pessimism about it than previously. I think we will probably see a late booking pattern. It mightn’t be as buoyant as before but I don’t think it will be too bad.”
Planning permission was recently granted for a new anchor store at SkyCourt shopping centre in Shannon. While that will surely lead to an increase in business at the centre and create some new jobs, it may still be some way off.
SkyCourt manager Pat Kelly said he is hopeful that tighter financial constraints will stop a leakage of Shannon shoppers from the town. “We’ve always suffered in Shannon because while people might do some shopping here, they also do a lot in Ennis or Limerick. Since the recession started people have been watching what they are spending a lot more and they’re a lot less likely to spend money on going into Ennis or Limerick. We’re hopeful that they will shop local this Christmas.”
He said that last Christmas had been down on previous years but that there had been a good level of business in the closing days.
Mr Kelly said the numbers of shoppers visiting SkyCourt has held up quite well this year, but that they haven’t been purchasing as they once did. “The footfall in the centre is only down two or three per cent, but the businesses are down more than that. People aren’t spending as much.”