Arnotts has confirmed that 580 jobs are to be lost at its department store on Henry Street in Dublin, as part of a three-year redevelopment.
The department store currently employs 950, but it says its staff numbers will rise to 1,200 when the new development is completed.
Arnotts said it told staff of its plans at a meeting this morning, and it is hoped most of the lay-offs will be voluntary. But the Mandate union said it expected that most would be compulsory.
Mandate says that workers are shocked at the number of job losses Arnotts wants by September.
The union said this was a sad day for Arnotts and Boyers staff, and the Northern Quarter was coming at a huge cost.
Arnotts will re-locate from its current Henry Street store to the Debenhams store in the Jervis Centre later this summer.
The current Boyers store on North Earl Street will be converted to an Arnotts furniture and home store to open in August.
Construction of the €1 billion Northern Quarter - which will include shops, 175 apartments, restaurants, bars and a hotel - is expected to start later this year.
