CLLR DENISE MULLEN: Data, Not Dates, No Good for Families Who Are Trying to Survive
Aontú Deputy Leader Cllr Denise Mullen has hit out at the uncertainty coming out of the Stormont Executive leaving workers and businesses in the dark as to when they can return to work.
Cllr Mullen:
“It is all well and good for the Stormont Executive to state their reopening of the North will be driven by ‘data, not dates’ but where does this leave countless workers, businesses, and households who are desperate to return to work? How can a household budget for the next few months until they know when they may return to work? How can a business know when to restock or begin to prepare for reopening when reopening could be next week or next month? This ever-evolving approach may suit a government who has changed it’s mind consistently throughout the pandemic, but it does not suit the ordinary working people who have borne the cost of these decisions. Why has the Executive not even put in place provisional dates for reopening? This will give businesses and households a date to work off. Where this date needs to be put off, the Executive should publish the factors that will lead a delay in that stage of reopening and ensure a minimum notice in period is in place to allow adjustment by workers and businesses.”
“This at least affords some certainty to the people of the North in the coming few months. To rejuvenate and reactivate our economy, we need to begin putting in place a structure to our recovery.”
