‘Give us something, so we can at least have some hope’

Resilience is waning and panic is rising as the hospitality and personal-services sectors feel the brunt of even more Covid-19 restrictions

Denis Cotter, executive chef and founder of Café Paradiso in Cork, will return to the click-and-collect model as new restrictions are imposed. Picture: Cathal Noonan

Denis Cotter, the founder of Café Paradiso restaurant in Cork, had known the reimposition of public health restrictions was coming for some time. In truth, he was a bit surprised that he and his colleagues were allowed to re-open at all in December.

“I mean, it was inevitable,” he said. “It was only a matter of how long we could stay open, really, I think, the way the numbers were rising, and even when we ...