About 1,000 jobs are expected to be lost in Kildare over the next the next two weeks, after the Covid-19 restrictions were extended in the county.
Laois and Offaly had also been placed in a regional lockdown with Kildare, following worrying increases in the number of cases of the virus being recorded in the three counties, largely due to outbreaks in local meat factories.
While Laois and Offaly's daily figures have decreased, allowing the two counties to ease lockdown measures, Kildare's numbers remain high, prompting the Government to announce on Friday that the measures would be extended for a further two weeks there.
County Kildare Chamber says that the 1,000 jobs that will be lost are in addition to the 1,200 people who have already been laid off over the past fortnight.
Kildare chamber chief executive, Allan Shine says the county's economy is on its knees.
"It will have a devastating impact on the tourism, hospitality and retail sectors in Kildare. What we have is a 200,000 people of a population or so, and that's all we have to market ourselves to over the next few weeks with this lockdown.
"It's just very bad news for the county."
Despite the impact of the county's economy, a leading health expert has backed the Government's decision.
Yesterday, 70 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the country, with nine reported in Kildare.
A total of 444 people have been diagnosed with the virus in the county since the restrictions were imposed two weeks ago.
Dr Eoghan De Barra, a consultant in infectious diseases, says it was right to extend the lockdown.
"Kildare remains one of the highest rates amongst the community, so it's very difficult for the people who live there, but it offers the best way for us to contain it and to bring those numbers back down to a point where we can hopefully lift restrictions again and move around more freely again."
