Business owners from the hospitality industry in Co Tyrone have been left angry after cancellations and no-shows significantly reduced their capacity last weekend.
With concern growing about the Omicron variant of Covid 19, vaccine passports have been introduced for licensed premises while people have been urged to limit their social contacts and meet outdoors where possible.
With the Northern Ireland Executive due to provide an update on its response to the pandemic on Wednesday, one restaurant owner from Dungannon has said that is too late for businesses that have already been hit hard by closures and restrictions.
Niall McKearney from The Gables Bar and Restaurant said his venue was less than half as busy as it would be on a normal weekend before Christmas.
“We had cancellations, we had no shows. Last week we had a cancellation for a table of 25, two tables of 30,” Niall told MyTyrone.
“You have all your food ordered in, everything is ready to go and prepped. It’s a disaster.
“The last few weeks our lunch trade has disappeared, and we would be better off closed.
“This morning the biggest problem is that we don’t know whether we are going to be open next week or not.
“We’re closed on Friday for Christmas and I don’t know whether to order for reopening after Christmas or run the place empty.
“They are to make an announcement on Wednesday, that’s going to be too late for us.
“How do you run a business when you don’t know if you’re open next week or you’re not open next week?”
Rachel Jardine, who manages The Gas Works on Perry Street in Dungannon, said normally they would have to employ extra staff in the lead up to Christmas, but last weekend barely had enough work for their existing staff.
“Normally we would need to employ extra staff over and above what we would have, but we barely needed the staff that we had,” Rachel said.
“There was nobody out - people are too scared to come out. We were operating at less than half of what we would have at any other Christmas.
“It feels like the government is putting a noose around your neck, because they can’t afford to close us, but they are not making it viable for us to be open by scaring the life out of people to not go out.”
Rachel added that while staff hours have been cut as a result of decreased footfall, keeping staff in jobs is of the utmost importance in the lead up to Christmas.
“We can’t turn around in the mouth of Christmas and tell people that the numbers aren’t coming through the door so we are going to close.
“Our staff are relying on us to stay open, the musicians we have are relying on us to stay open."
Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill said on Sunday that daily Covid 19 cases in Northern Ireland could reach as high as 30,000, while adding that ‘everything is on the table’ when the Executive meets to discuss further restrictions on Wednesday.
“I don’t know how they expect us to cope mentally, never mind financially,” Gables owner Niall added.
“It’s a lack of direction and authority that is the biggest problem. The problem at the weekend was the no shows and cancellations, but the problem this morning is whether we will even be allowed to open this time next week.”
