Union at Debenhams to seek meeting with bosses to reassure Irish staff over closures

Unions representing 1,600 staff in Debenhams stores  in Ireland - including in Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge - want to meet company management to get assurances that jobs are safe in light of UK closures.

A Debenhams spokesperson would not comment if any Irish stores will be closed.

The Mandate union said it has been unable to clarify the chain's plans for Ireland since it announced 50 stores would close late last year.

Debenhams has 11 stores in the Republic, including outlets in Newbridge, Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick, Tralee and Waterford.

Mandate assistant general secretary Gerry Light said he would seek an urgent meeting with management in the coming days to discuss its plans.

Concerns 

"There have been concerns about Debenhams for some time in terms of how it is managing to compete in the modern marketplace," Mr Light told independent.ie

"There has been much speculation about closures.

"We met senior management last November about the ongoing difficulties facing the business including control of the business as there was speculation that there would be store closures late last year.

"We tried to tease that out with the management team. I got a sense there were no immediate plans for the closure of the Irish stores but we were not given a definite response."

He said a dramatic annual general meeting last week had fuelled recent speculation about closures.

Examinership

Debenhams went into examinership two years ago, blaming high rents.

Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley owns almost 30 per cent of the company and ousted the chairman and forced the chief executive to leave the board at last week's AGM.

Last year, the company made a pre-tax loss of €246,000 in Ireland.