The Dublin branch of Direct Holidays, a sister shop to the Thomas Cook office occupied yesterday, has also gone into occupation.

Workers believed that suspicious behaviour by security guards meant that their shop, in Talbot Street, was also threatened with immediate closure.

They responded with a lock-in starting at midday today. Pauline, speaking from the occupation, said, “This morning a man arrived and asked for the keys, supposedly for our protection. He said he was from Thomas Cook.

“We knew that’s what they did at the shop yesterday—took the keys and changed the locks. Our shop could have been empty by the end of the day. So we had no choice but to go into occupation.”

The new occupation means that workers from three shops are now occupying, as the first Thomas Cook occupation, which has entered its second day, includes staff from two shops.

Thomas Cook owns the Direct Holidays operation. The company is planning to shut down its entire branch network in Ireland, leaving only a call centre and a small admin office.

“They say they have to close our shop, but they made 400 million euros in profit last year,” says Pauline. “It’s disgusting.”

“This is the domino effect. We didn’t plan this. But we’re not leaving. We’re camping out here.”

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