The beginning of 2022 showed a repeat of some of 2020 and 2021’s problems as Covid-19 continued to have a grip on the community.

One area of life that seen a huge impact was the staffing of our local hospitals in the first week of January with more than 800 staff absent due to Covid-19 across the Western Trust area as cases of the Omicron variant soared,

The news comes as many sectors in society are struggling to operate as normal as the impact of Covid-19 and the new Omicron variant continues to make a major impact on daily life in Fermanagh.

Other local developments included two hospitality business that took a temporary circuit break over the first week of January but later reopened.

Garrett Martin, a medic with the Western Trust has called on the people of Fermanagh to get their Covid-19 booster vaccination jabs to help protect the health service as the numbers doing so have fallen dramatically compared to before Christmas.

Tributes were paid to the late Bishop of Clogher, The Right Rev Brian Hannon who died in January. The popular clergyman was a constant for the community of his Diocese during The Troubles and served as a guiding light.

His son, Neil spoke of his father and said: “Dad practised what he preached. Always had time for people. Always looked for ways to unite the community rather than divide it.”

Speaking at the funeral service, The Right Rev. The Lord Eames OM, former Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland spoke of Bishop Hannon’s dedication to his Diocese, he said: “He cared for the people of Clogher Diocese as though they were parishioners of a large parish – he knew them as individuals, he knew their problems, and through the darkness of The Troubles, he carried their pain on his heart.

“I will long remember him moving among the beds of Enniskillen hospital on the day of the Enniskillen Bomb as together he and I sought to bring some comfort to those in such tragic circumstances.”

One long running saga in the early months of 2022 was the disruption to local trade as a result of the Public Realm Scheme works in Enniskillen town centre.

In January, a number of town centre businesses called on Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to allow traffic to come into Enniskillen town centre as they claim the current closure could see their trade fall by up to 40 per cent over the coming weeks.

Town centre traders felt the fall in footfall in the first week of the scheme as they spoke to this newspaper. “Monday is a fairly busy day. I have six staff on, myself included, and I have two in today [Tuesday], and that is it – and to be honest, it is one too many. It is a complete waste of time opening,” said John Gallagher, of Gillen's Greengrocers.

“A month is too long to be closed,” said Leslie Wilkin, of Leslie’s Bakery. “You don’t mind a day or two to be closed, but a month is too long, because once you lose the flow of cars you lose the people.”