'It feels like we’re on the deck of the Titanic, we’re heading towards a massive iceberg and you look back in the wheelhouse and there’s nobody in there..'
A Belfast restaurant has revealed that his energy bills have rocketed from £31,000 a year to £9,500 in just one month.
Mr McCoubrey, said the latest bill wasn't a shock at it has been "building all year so we've been used to it". “Luckily we've been in this business for a long time. Any loans and debts that we have aren't secured on our homes. But younger people who have opened their first restaurant, they have debts secured on their homes.
Prime Minister Liz Truss last week announced long-awaited plans to tackle soaring energy bills, with a focus on capping prices and boosting domestic energy supplies. The uncertainty stems from the region having a separate energy market from Great Britain and there is currently no fully functioning devolved government at Stormont.
"A big worry among my contemporaries would be that there'll be an announcement next week, the usual thing in London that 'this is what we're going to do' then the next thing will be 'oh we've no way to implement that in Northern Ireland'.