AN APPLICATION TO wind up one of Ireland’s largest retailers, Dunnes Stores, will be heard in the Commercial Court on 14 December.

RTÉ News reports that the application was brought because of an unpaid debt of €21 million. The petition was made by the developers of a Kilkenny shopping centre, of which Dunnes Stores said it would be the anchor tenant.

The chain has already been told by the High Court to settle the debt and the case has been expedited because of its significance to the 18,000 employees in the company.

Mandate, the union representing workers at Dunnes, had no comment to make on today’s developments.