EIGHT jobs have been lost after building supply company Heiton Buckley announced it is to close its store on the Dock Road after 40 years trading.
Dermot Barry, manager of the Dock Road store – owned by the Grafton Group – confirmed the store would close its doors for the last time at close of business this Friday, January 28.
Heiton Buckley’s second store in the city, on the Ballysimon Road, is unaffected by the closure.
Mr Barry said the store’s closure comes as a “direct result of the current conditions affecting the construction industry in Ireland.”
He also criticised the Shannon Foynes Port Company – which Heiton Buckley leases the land from – for allegedly blocking a €750,000 cut and bent steel plant in 2008, which he said would have created ten jobs.
However, a spokesperson for the port authority said the project could not proceed on their lands – adding Heiton Buckley offered to buy the land.
“The offer was accepted by the Shannon Foynes Port Company but was not proceeded with by Heiton Buckley. We received no further communication from Heiton Buckley following their withdrawal of the offer,” the spokesperson added.
Staff were told of the closure on Friday, but before this, they had implemented other measures such as short-time working, and working Saturday’s as time in lieu.
Andy McGuinness, SIPTU, who is representing the workers said staff were given redundancy terms of five weeks for each year of service, inclusive of statutory.
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