I sat and beheld a pale horse, and the name that sat upon it was Sports Direct, and Mike Ashley followed with it.
The above is an excerpt from the newly-updated Book of Revelations, following the news that Ashley's sportswear empire Sports Direct are considering expanding their Irish operation by moving into the old Clery's building on O'Connell Street.
The Irish Times are reporting that Sports Direct have a firm interest in moving into the vacant but historic Clerys building, which was purchased last June by Deirdre Foley’s Natrium consortium for €29 million hours before it was due to shut. Clerys closed suddenly last year, leading to a massive 430 redundancies without any notice. Staff were given just 30 minutes to pack up their belongings and leave.
The building remains vacant, and one of Dublin's most historic retail buildings is now subject to covetous glances from Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley. The building was destroyed during the 1916 Rising, and was rebuilt in 1922.
Should the building go to Sports Direct, it will be a further deprivation for the once - important building as a recent Guardian investigation revealed Sports Direct to be a largely abhorrent employer.
The investigation found that Ashley's company effectively pays below the minimum wage, as staff are subject to lengthy bodily searches at the end of each shift, for which they are not paid. In addition to this, the Guardian report that staff face these further indignities:
Harangued by tannoy for not working fast enough.
Warned they will be sacked if they receive six black marks – or “strikes" – over a six-month period for offences including a “period of reported sickness”; “errors”; “excessive/long toilet breaks”; “time wasting”; “excessive chatting”; “horseplay”; and “using a mobile phone in the warehouse”.
Banned from wearing 802 separate clothing brands at work.Have to go through rigorous searches – down to the last layer of clothing, asked to roll up trouser legs and show top of underwear – which typically takes 15 minutes, because management is so concerned about potential theft.
In the aftermath of the report, Sports Direct pledged £10 million for a pay rise to their staff, effective from January 1 this year.
Ashley is worth an estimated £1.5 billion and is the owner of Newcastle United and also holds a 9% ownership stake in Glasgow Rangers. In Ireland, Ashley and Sports Direct owns a 50% stake in Heatons and are actively seeking to expand their Irish operation.
