Calls made for one-off Bank Holiday on date towards end of September

The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) has called on the Government to introduce a one-off Bank Holiday at the end of September.

Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, CEO of ITIC, said today that “Considering the impact of the pandemic, now is the year for Ireland to create a bank holiday on the last Monday in September.” Many businesses have been closed for most of the year, with certain services such as click and collect retail and hairdressing only reopening earlier today.

The ITIC have also asked that the Government publish a clear aviation plan by the end of this month, stating: ‘The Government needs to scrap the ban on non-essential travel and mandatory hotel quarantine and instead adopt the European Commission’s Covid-19 cert which allows intra EU travel for those vaccinated, those with a negative test, or those who have been previously infected.’

Mr. O’Mara added that ‘what is urgently needed now is a plan from Government stating how international inbound tourism can recommence. Ireland’s tourism industry is down 90% in revenue over the last 12 months with 160,000 job losses.’

If the proposed bank holiday goes ahead this year, it would fall on Monday, September 27.

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