RETAIL CHAIN MOTHERCARE Ireland has gone into liquidation, which will see the closure of its 14 stores nationwide.

The retailer – which sells a range of products for babies and young children – employs 197 people.

In a statement this morning, it said that the impact of Covid-19 had been “unprecedented” with this and other factors meaning the company would face “significant losses this year” and into the future. 

Mothercare Ireland had been operating in Ireland since 1992, and had stores in Cork, Drogheda, Dublin, Dundalk, Galway, Limerick, Newbridge, Portlaoise, Sligo and Tralee

The loss-making UK part of the business was put into administration late last year. 

Jonathan Ward, managing director of Mothercare Ireland, said it was “devastating news for the entire team”. 

He said: “The impact on our business to date [from Covid-19] is unprecedented and  what has become clear over the recent weeks is that store sales are going to continue to be seriously impacted in the short term whilst social distancing measures are in place and longer term as consumer habits permanently change.

We had already experienced issues with our supply chain in 2020 and when we factor the Covid-19 impact on top of this we are forecasting substantial losses this year alone.  Unfortunately our business is now no longer sustainable as it will continue to make losses into the future.

Earlier this week, Monsoon and Accessorize announced they’d be closing their Irish stores permanently. 

In early April, Debenhams announced it wouldn’t re-open its stores after the Covid-19 pandemic. This resulted in 2,000 job losses.