Hospitality manager Alan Coleman said he doesn’t know if the sector will return to normality any time soon.
He runs Ann’s Bakery on Mary Street in Dublin which is currently closed as there are no customers coming into the city.
Alan said: “Our business is so reliant on street footfall and the city is decimated because there is nothing happening with retail or construction.
“It’s just not feasible to justify opening. We’re between a rock and a hard place. We’re between the pubs and restaurants.
“We’re not a fully-licensed restaurant that serves alcohol but we’re not a restaurant that can do takeaway.
“We’re stuck in the middle and it’s tough.
“We thought the first lockdown would be a flash in the pan and it would be sorted out quickly.
“I never imagined we’d be here a year later.”
He is among 20 staff at the bakery who are out of work and receiving the PUP.
Alan said: “Most of us are on the PUP and struggling. The banks are looking for their money on car loans and mortgages and so on.
“The lip service given at the start that mortgages were going to be put on hold only happened for the first few months.
“It’s not like that now. We’re all suffering with that.”
He also revealed many of his colleagues are leaving the hospitality industry due to the long lockdown.
Alan said: “We’ve lost a lot of staff to retail and labouring on building sites.
“The hospitality sector was on its knees before the pandemic.
“We struggled to fill jobs but it’s really the case now.
“It’s understandable because people want to work.
“It will never go back to the way it was before.”
