Former Debenhams employees accept settlement offer rte.ie - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rte.ie Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Industry and Employment Correspondent
Supporters of former Debenhams employees have urged Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to consider his position after Gardaí were deployed to move protesters to allow the liquidator KPMG to extract stock from the Henry Street store in Dublin.
Footage streamed early this morning showed protestors, who attempted to block access to the stores, being physically removed by up to 50 Gardaí.
The Garda Press Office confirmed Gardaí had attended a premises as required for the execution of a High Court order which had previously been secured by KPMG to enable the liquidation to proceed. The Liquidators are simply seeking to complete the process which is entirely lawful based on the Court order which the Liquidators received from the High Court a number of weeks ago, KPMG said in a statement this evening.
Industry and Employment Correspondent
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar has told former Debenhams employees that the Government has honoured its obligations to them and exhausted all avenues for a resolution.
Today is the 300th day of their strike in pursuit of enhanced redundancy payments.
Around 1,000 workers lost their jobs when Debenhams Irish operation went into liquidation last April, and since then, they have been campaigning for four weeks redundancy pay per year of service as provided for under a 2016 collective agreement.
They have maintained pickets at the 11 Irish-based stores, arguing that the remaining stock should be ring-fenced to fund their redundancy demands.