Iceland pulls the plug on Irish shops with the loss of around 160 jobs

Ed Carty, Ian Guider and Gordon Deegan

Following sustained substantial losses, the firm said six shops in Dublin and one outlet in Letterkenny, Donegal, would close by the end of the week.Iceland said it could no longer cope with losing so much money and could see no sign of a recovery.

“When we left the business four year’s ago the Republic of Ireland was profitable, but when we came back in February it was losing a lot of money. We have spent six months looking at it and have come to the conclusion that it is not possible for us to turn this around,” a spokeswoman said.

Management is trying to find a buyer for the whole or part of the business. It also stressed it was looking at a number of options to secure jobs for as many employees as possible.

The outlets are due to close by the end of the week but it is understood staff were only informed of the development in the last 24 hours.

In February, Iceland was bought by the Baugar investment group, Britain’s fifth-largest food retailer, which has laid-off 25% of the company’s British staff. RGDATA, the trade group representing independent retailers, said more shops will close around the country if the groceries order, which bans below-cost selling, is abolished.

Director general Tara Buckley said the closure was a bad day for Irish consumers who will be left with less choice.

“The closure of Iceland also puts paid to the suggestions, advanced by the Consumers Association of Ireland, that the retail grocery sector in Ireland operates in a comfort zone and lacks a competitive dynamic. Such ill-informed and misguided comments will be of little comfort to the staff, customers and suppliers of Iceland stores today,” said Ms Buckley.

“Repealing the groceries order would be one sure way of ensuring that this is the first of many closure announcements and job losses in the retail grocery sector over the years ahead,” she said.

And yesterday the Shannon Free Zone was yesterday hit with the closure of one of its oldest manufacturing operations, Boart Longyear with the loss of 42 jobs. The company employed 55 at its Shannon base and is to retain 13 jobs in a sales team that will continue to operate from a new premises in the Shannon area.