Covid-19 and the Northern Ireland retail sector [Podcast] EP14

Ben Cooper is joined by Mairi Spowage, Deputy Director of the Institute and Aodhán Connolly, Director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, to discuss how the current pandemic is affecting the retail sector in Northern Ireland. With an already turbulent number of years for the retail sector, we discuss what the impact of the CoVid-19 lockdown measures has been on the sector and how this differs in NI compared to the rest of the UK. We also discuss how Brexit will have an impact, and what the long term vision of the retail sector in Northern Ireland is.

Timestamps
(0.30) Overview of the Northern Ireland Sector and how it compares to the rest of the UK
(4.10) How has the sector been impacted by CoVid-19 and how has it had to adapt?
(11.09) How has the impact to sector been different to what has been experienced in the rest of the UK?
(15.14) How have the NI government policy interventions helped?
(18:11) Has there been a large uptake of UK government measures and how will that continue into the future?
(20.17) How will Brexit now have an impact on the sector given the current economic situation?
(25.43) Will the UK government be more flexible now in their approach to Brexit?
(27.01) What is your vision of the long term impact on the sector?
(31.45) What are you views on the future of business rates?