Antrim politician staging Dunnes Stores sit-in over derelict building in his town

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A CO ANTRIM politician is staging a one-man sit-in at the Dunnes Stores headquarters in Dublin over a derelict building in his town that has been idle for over seven years.

Dunnes Stores on Main Street in Larne closed in the autumn of 2019 and has been shuttered ever since.

Alliance MLA Danny Donnelly said that ever since, locals, politicians and business people have been trying to engage with Dunnes Stores on the empty premises but have been “met with silence”.

After years of “unanswered emails, letters and requests for meetings,” Donnelly today travelled to the Dunnes Stores HQ in Dublin city centre to deliver a letter in person in the “hope this will finally lead to a conversation”.

He has been in the reception of the Dunnes Stores HQ for over five hours but has yet to meet any senior officials.

I am in Dublin today to deliver this letter to @dunnesstores CEO Margaret Heffernan and to request a meeting with whoever is responsible for properties in NI. It has been 7 years since Dunnes left Larne and the town centre building has been vacant and increasingly derelict since. pic.twitter.com/0XWfz5UenK

— Danny Donnelly MLA (@DannyDonnelly1) July 24, 2026

The only people he has spoken to so far were the receptionist and the head of security, who he describes as “both very nice”.

“The nice receptionist let ‘them upstairs’ know that I am here and hoping to speak to someone about their empty premises in Larne,” Donnelly posted to social media.

The Journal visited Donnelly as he sat in the reception and he said that when Dunnes closed it Larne, “they closed very quickly and left in a matter of weeks”.

“The shutters came down in 2019 and it’s remained on sale since and the shop has become very, very derelict.”

Donnelly said it has been broken into several times, people have attempted to start fires outside it, and that it is “just a real eyesore in the town”.

He added that the car park attached to the empty store has “become a regular location for antisocial behaviour, including public drinking and drug use”.

“Given there is a nursing home directly above the former store, the potential consequences do not bear thinking about,” said Donnelly, who added that “people and businesses in Larne are furious”.

“It’s getting more and more derelict, the canopy is falling to pieces and that had to be reported to the council’s building control in order to get them to come and repair it.

“It’s going to come down at some point, potentially on top of somebody.”

In the letter that Donnelly had addressed to the chief executive of Dunnes, he writes that he “fully accepts that what ultimately happens to the site is a commercial decision for Dunnes Stores”.

However, he adds: “What is much harder to accept is watching one of the most prominent buildings in Larne continue to deteriorate year after year while every attempt to start a conversation is ignored.”

Donnelly told The Journal that “I just want to have a conversation about what their plans are for this huge building that’s affecting a lot of other businesses in the area”.

“Shoppers who want to come to Larne, they see this in the town centre and it’s not attractive and it’s not attracting them.

“This massive building in the town centre has affected the businesses around it.”

Meanwhile, Donnelly said he’s willing to come back to the Dunnes Stores HQ to advance the issue.

“I’ve handed in some letters to the chief executive and to some of the other officers in charge of the property at reception,” said Donnelly.

“The lady at reception told me she would distribute them to the relevant people.”

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