First Steps On The Road To Recovery

Retail & public spaces open.  Public urged to use ‘sense’

- Sam Roberts

Ireland is set to end two months of lockdown today as retail stores, public spaces and sports facilities reopen.

Tens of thousands of staff will clock in but in very different workplaces.

Garden centres, hardware stores and optometrists as well as golf clubs and tennis courts are back in action and braced for huge demand.

Paul Candon, chairman of the Homevalue Group, said: “Today is a welcome development and a first step on the road to recovery.

“We look forward to opening our 140 stores, welcoming colleagues and customers back through our doors.”

But it won’t be a return to normal trading as businesses urged the public not to scramble to their nearest outlets.

Eoin Reid, owner of Fernhill Garden Centre in Athlone, Westmeath, told the Irish Mirror: “People need to be sensible. We hope there won’t be a tsunami on Monday. If there is it will be challenging.