Poll: Should businesses be forced to close during extreme weather?
The Taoiseach doesn’t think so, but a bill from Sinn Féin wants to make it mandatory.
THE BEAST FROM the East and Storm Emma brought Ireland to a standstill last week, forcing a lot of businesses to wind down for several days.
During the cold snap, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy advised firms to consider staff safety first and foremost.
However, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar added that employers should make their own call on whether to wind down because a “blanket instruction” on all firms to close would be inappropriate.
A bill in the works from Sinn Féin wants to make it compulsory for businesses to close during adverse weather, but the proposal has not received government support.
Meanwhile, business groups Ibec and ISME dismissed the idea, with the latter arguing the move would be unworkable as many ‘non-essential’ workplaces, such as convenience stores and forecourts, were a key part of people’s daily lives.
The retail and restaurants sectors are expected to be especially hard hit by the snow-related closures, with Retail Excellence Ireland predicting shops would lose out on hundreds of millions of euro due to the period of lost trade.
With that in mind, we’re asking Fora readers this week: Should businesses be forced to close during extreme weather?
