Reacting to the news of a £40 million Hardship Fund from the Department for the Economy, Nora Smith, CEO of CO3 said:
“Whilst we welcome news of a Hardship Fund, the devil will be in the detail in terms of whether or not our members can access this. To date most of them have not been able to access any financial relief despite the fact that our sector employs around 45,000 people and contributes £1.5billion to the local economy.