Clondalkin Mill Centre Jobs At Risk

Jobs in Clondalkin's Mill Centre are at risk as businesses struggle with high rents according to Sinn Féin’s Dublin Mid-West representative Eoin Ó Broin who has called on the government “to intervene as a matter of urgency to save both jobs and businesses.”

Sinn Féin has also learned that the landlord Liam Carroll and his agent Rothwaite are refusing to renegotiate rents that were set during the boom while new tenants are being offered lengthy rent holidays.

Ó Broin said: "A number of businesses operating in the Clondalkin Mill Centre are at risk of closure as a result of high rents. The rents, which in many cases were set during the height of the boom, are simply too high to allow traders to survive. The majority of traders are now in arrears with their rent. The upward only rent clauses in tenants contracts are putting otherwise viable businesses and jobs at risk.

"Existing traders have approached Rothwaite, the agent acting on behalf of landlord Liam Carroll, with sensible proposals to ‘park’ six months’ rent until economic conditions improve. Such a move would secure the long-term viability of their businesses, jobs and ultimately the Mill Centre itself. However, so far the agents have rejected the trader’s proposals citing pressure from their bank Lloyds as the excuse.

"Sinn Féin has also learned that new tenants to the Mill are being offered rent-free periods of up to nine months as part of a deal to bring them into the centre. Some of these deals are being negotiated with retail outlets that will be in direct competition with existing traders. This is not only unfair but may be in breach of competition law.

"Clondalkin has a level of unemployment that is now higher than when Fine Gael and Labour first took office. The idea that viable businesses and jobs in the area could be lost because of short term thinking by landlords and banks is unacceptable. There is an urgent need for government to intervene to ensure that lenders, landlords and traders are working together in the interests of the local economy and local employment.

"I will be writing to the Minister for Enterprise Richard Bruton asking him to look into the matter of whether Liam Carroll and Rothwaite are in breach of company law. I will also be writing to Dublin Mid-West’s four Government TDs asking them to intervene directly with the Minister to save those jobs and businesses at the Mill Centre that are at risk."

(CD)