In pre-pandemic times the loss of over 100,000 jobs in any sector in a matter of months would have been unimaginable, but that is the grim reality which has knocked Irish tourism so radically off course since early last year. Behind each one of those job losses is a personal story – people who have spent 18 stressful months in a state of suspended animation, relying on the meagre support offered by Covid-19 social welfare payments and with little idea when they might be able to return to work.
While the success of the vaccination programme is – barring the emergence of new, more virulent or vaccine-resistant variants – bringing the worst of the pandemic to an end and creating space for Government to reopen social and economic life, the road back for Irish tourism will be long and hard. Last week a typically bullish Michael O’Leary of Ryanair said Ireland was facing “four to five…
