Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Seanad to show support for the Debenhams workers. In 1996, the great British retailer opened its first shop in the Jervis Shopping Centre in the constituency of Dublin Central. It had a great business, grew and was profitable, and then moved to the site of Roches Stores. On 9 April this year, it tactically moved its business from being a high street, shopfront business to being an online business. It still trades today and has a half-price sale, for anybody who is willing to spend money with the company when it resolves this issue. A total of 1,500 low-paid front-line workers, most of them women and many of them mothers, have been left high and dry by this great British retailer. I ask the Seanad and the State to support these workers.