The group was hosting a gathering of 400 retailers in Co Kildare to be addressed by Minister Damien English.

Soaring energy costs topped  the agenda with many retailers receiving electricity and gas bills in recent weeks that are a multiple of what they were this time last year.

Duncan Graham, Managing Director of Retail Excellence, said the unprecedented nature of the energy bills being received by retailers posed a threat to thousands of livelihoods around the country.

“It is critically important that we see a major intervention from the Government in the forthcoming Budget to ensure businesses can keep the lights on this Christmas,” he said, adding that it needed to include a cap on energy costs as a priority.

“Our members don’t like uncertainty, and a cap on energy costs would ensure that retailers could at least plan for the coming months with the sure knowledge that they won’t be facing even more price hikes,” he said.

“If we don’t see an energy price cap, then we will certainly experience a poor trading season for the third Christmas in a row. Many of our members will not be able to sustain that pressure,” he concluded.

He also called for a reduction in the VAT rate and added that staffing was still a concern in the retail industry.

Mr Graham said retailers had seen their energy bills going up three-fold since the start of the year.

“They’re wondering if they’ll survive another winter. This is the third successive winter with disruption to the industry,” he said.

He said Retail Excellence had not seen business closures as yet but that they may not be far off.

“Retailers are wondering if they can fully open stores in the run up to Christmas. Normally, they would open at 7am and stay open until 8 or 9 at night. They are now saying they simply cannot operate those hours,” he said.

“Businesses that would normally look to offer seasonal employment are going ‘it’s that or paying the energy bill.’ It’s not far off a point where it’s unsustainable,” he explained.

Duncan Graham said retailers were already implementing the kind of measures being discussed by the Cabinet for public buildings, like turning off the lights when the outlet closes and turning down the heat.

He said towns were going to look a lot darker this Christmas with businesses turning off the lights at night and town centre bodies reconsidering the Christmas lighting displays this year.

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Homebase has been forced, much like other big high-street retailers to enforce a restructuring of their operations throughout the UK and Ireland. This has meant 3 locations throughout the Republic of Ireland could potential face closure.

Homebase issued a statement: “Rental costs associated with stores are unsustainable and many stores are loss making.” Homebase refused to comment on whether these would be the last of the stores in Ireland to shut, or the certainty of these being the stores that will definitely close.

Underperforming stores throughout the brand will be forced to close their doors in a bid to avoid administration. The troubled retailer’s creditors are due to vote on August, 31 on the cost- reduction plan, which is proposing 42 store closures in the UK and Ireland and up to 1,500 job cuts.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, Homebase Ireland employs 558 people across 15 stores in the Republic. Some 114 workers are full time and 444 are part time. It has already cut more than 300 jobs at its Milton Keynes headquarters this year and closed 17 stores

Homebase will be entering into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), meaning that they may avoid insolvency / administration. However, entering into a CVA has been deemed as a risky move for high-street retailers.

Damian McGloughlin, chief executive of Homebase, said: “Launching a CVA has been a difficult decision and one that we have not taken lightly.

Homebase has been one of the most recognisable retail brands for almost 40 years, but the reality is we need to continue to take decisive action to address the underperformance of the business and deal with the burden of our cost base, as well as to protect thousands of jobs.

The CVA is therefore an essential measure for the business to take and will enable us to refocus our operations and rebuild our offer for the years ahead.”

Whilst Homebase has said that they will make every effort to retain and relocate their staff, it would appear that this closure will mean redundancies for the Irish public.

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