DUNNES TOLD TO DEVELOP OR SELL
THE chief executive of the Dunnes empire is being asked either to develop or sell the empty and abandoned store on Wexford’s South Main Street ‘which is dragging down the town’.
‘The notion that a flagship store in a prominent position in Wexford can be left empty is criminal,’ said former mayor Cllr George Lawlor.
He has written to Dunnes’ chief executive Margaret Heffernan saying that the store - which has been empty for the past decade - ‘is having a detrimental affect and is unfair on the rest of the town’s businesses’.
His approach has been underpinned by Wexford Chamber, whose chief executive Madeleine Quirke says Margaret Heffernan and the management of Dunnes have a duty of care for their abandoned buildings.
‘For the past 10 years I have spoken very critically about the decision by the Dunne family to simply shelve their property for use by future generations and their refusal to engage with chambers or local authorities,’ said Ms Quirke.
‘Their properties are absolute eyesores in almost every town in the Ireland, but particularly so in Wexford where the property is situated in the middle of our Main Street.
‘Businesses who work alongside and opposite this derelict building have long suffered this unsightly and abandoned building as their neighbour.’
‘It is not acceptable and very disrespectful that this privately owned commercial property is not maintained at the very least. I believe that if it was to come on to the market, either as a rental property or to sell, the interest would be immense,’ said the chamber chief.
Cllr Lawlor said that from both an aesthetic and a business point of view, ‘this empty facade is dragging the rest of the town down’.
‘After years of stagnation rest of the town is picking up and it’s wrong that the Dunnes’ situation is continuing. There’s no longer any excuse for the store to remain like this and it should be re-developed by Dunnes, sold or leased to somone who wants to invest in the town.’
‘I believe that the empty facade is sending our all the wrong signals about what can be a flourishing area of the main street. It’s long overdue for development,’ said the councillor, who said he had written to Dunnes’ chief as an elected representative on behalf of the people of Wexford ‘who deserve better’.