Supermarket chain Superquinn has confirmed it plans to shed 400 jobs and close its Dundalk store.
67 jobs will be lost in Dundalk, with the remaining jobs lost across the rest of the chain from senior management down. The company said it had started negotiations on implementing the cost-cutting programme with unions
Superquinn has 24 stores in all. Today's redundancy announcement is the equivalent of 12% of the staff. A statement from Superquinn said its initiative would also include other measures to reduce costs.
Chairman Simon Burke said the measures would provide it with a competitive trading base and avoid putting all of the jobs in Superquinn at risk.
'It breaks any retailer's heart to close a store, but recent developments in cross-border shopping have left us with no alternative,' Mr Burke said, referring to the Dundalk closure. He said it was hoped to avoid any other closures.
Superquinn is owned by Select Retail Holdings, a consortium of business interests which bought the business from Fergal Quinn and his family in 2005.
The Mandate union, which represents the majority of Superquinn workers, said it was shocked and disappointed by the announcement. But the union's assistant general secretary, Gerry Light, said it would be wrong to say they were entirely surprised given the current economic circumstances and the impact of cross-border shopping.
