A group of former Debenhams workers protesting outside the chain's Henry Street claim they were moved on by gardai despite the demonstration observing social distance guidelines.
Some 2,000 workers in Ireland were made redundant last week when Debenhams stores in Ireland announced that their stores close permanently as the chain goes into liquidation, the company has said.
A group of eight workers from the Henry Street store assembled at 11am this morning.
But shop steward Jane Crowe said gardai wouldn't allow them to hold the demonstration as they deemed it "non-essential", despite the staff previously clearing the protest with local gardai.
"We had a grid drawn up of where we would stand six feet apart, two meters apart from each other," Jane told Classic Hits.
"Those that wanted masks, I had masks with me for those. We had gloves with us but unfortunately, the gardai have moved us on.
"They will not let us stand and protest outside the Henry Street store.
"The superintendent has moved us on and he has said it's non-essential, and I explained to him that it is essential. It is our livelihoods and our living it is and he said 'no, please move on before I'm forced to take your name'."
She added:"And I wouldn't mind, it's not like the street is empty. I'm actually down in Moore Street at the minute and you would not believe the amount of people walking around.
"It's phenomenal that they just wouldn't let us protest, and we were social distancing and we had it all mapped out. We know exactly what we were doing, we were being safe and they just moved on."
Protests took place outside the UK chain's 11 outlets around the country, including demonstrations in Tallaght, Bllanchardstown and Blackrock, but the Henry Street demonstrators were the only group who were moved on by gardai.
"There's about eight of us and we're actually moving," said Jane.
"We're not just standing, we're moving. And they're only addressing us, they're not addressing all the other people on the street. They're only addressing us."
A garda spokeswoman said: "This morning Tuesday 21st April 2020, Gardaí attended a planned demonstration outside a premises at Henry Street, Dublin 1.
"Due to concerns over adherence to current government instructions on non-essential journeys local Gardaí asked all persons present to disperse which they did without incident."
Jane added that staff still have had little communication from Debenhams and still don't know where they stand in relation to redundancy payments.
She said: "There was a fact sheet came out earlier on with just information on it but we were supposed to hear from the liquidators yesterday.
"They told us on Friday they would be in touch with all of us yesterday and we've yet to receive any information off them."
A spokeswoman for Debenhams told Dublin Live: "In relation to protests, Debenhams Retail Ireland Ltd. (DRIL) notes that the business is currently in a consultation process with the employees.
"The business is supporting the joint liquidators, Kieran Wallace and Andrew O’Leary of KPMG, in order to get the best outcome for employees and creditors in this situation, and remains committed to the consultation process with the unions representing employees."
