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EXCLUSIVE

By Sean Moriarty

Niall O’Callaghan has hit out at multi-national retailers who are continuing to trade under loopholes while small family stores have no choice but to close.

Since Level 5 restrictions came into force on Wednesday night only shops that sell essential goods are allowed to trade.

All other stores, like shoe shops and clothing retailers are not allowed to open.

Many family run businesses in Killarney are closed since Wednesday evening while some of the bigger multi-national stores continue to trade.

One national clothes chain in Killarney is allowed to remain open as it sells facemasks alongside its several other clothing and footwear lines.

A multi-national toy store in Tralee has been able to remain open as its believed to now stock toilet paper alongside its range of dinky cars and dolls’ houses.

Cllr Callaghan, whose family run the now temporarily closed Fáilte Hotel on College St, believes this is grossly unfair to the smaller operators who are facing a difficult future as a result of the latest lockdown.

“Are we all in this together? It doesn’t look like it,” he told the Killarney Advertiser. “If that was the case I could open The Fáilte, [and charge] a pint and a mask for €6.”