This time last year all Dublin pubs closed, and stayed closed ever since. The “last” pint was not at one of my usual watering holes but in hindsight I was right to find somewhere and enjoy the night while I still could.
My November 2020 prediction which amounted to no real reopening until September 2021 is starting to look like the optimistic end of the estimate spectrum, and as a result I have long concluded they are a lost cause.Even the most generous of payback plans is not enough to overcome an eighteen-month closure — other businesses who were closed for ‘only’ six months are showing the strain, and I have started to see a lot of empty retail units where the tenants have clearly thrown in the towel.
Dublin has already had anti-lockdown rioting which is an inevitable consequence of suppressed economic activity, and the only thing that is stopping this sorry excuse for a government being swept away by a Sinn Fein landslide is the latter not knowing when to keep their mouths shut.