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VERITAS HAS ANNOUNCED that its store on Dublin’s Abbey Street will close on Friday.
The religious publisher and retailer previously had seven stores across the island of Ireland, but come midday on Friday, only its Newry store in Co Down will remain open.
The upcoming closure of the Dublin city centre store follows a decision last year by Veritas to wind down its business operations and close its retail outlets.
Veritas was founded in 1899 to publish religious books, pamphlets and materials for the market in Ireland.
In 1928, Veritas opened its first store on Abbey street – this location also serves as its head office.
However, Veritas said it is “with regret” that it announced the permanent closure of its Dublin city centre store on Abbey Street.
The Abbey Street store which opened close to a century ago will shut its doors for the final time at 12pm this Friday.
In a statement, Veritas said its Abbey Street store has been a “cherished place of faith and inspiration, offering a diverse range of religious books, gifts, and educational and pastoral resources”.
“We warmly encourage you to visit the store before it closes,” added the statement.
“It would be a pleasure to thank you in person and assist you with any purchases you may have.”
Last February, Veritas said it “envisages closing all seven remaining retail locations plus the warehouse facility by the end of 2024″.
Its Newry store and warehouse facility in Blanchardstown remain open and Veritas has been approached for comment about the future of this store and warehouse.
When it announced its decision to wind down last year, Veritas employed around 80 people across its publishing, education and retail outlets.
Veritas said its decision followed a “comprehensive strategic review of the business which determined that the alternative of a restructuring process would not mitigate the challenges that exist or sufficiently improve the commercial prospects of the business”.
In its statement last February, Veritas added that it had “experienced a significant and sustained business downturn in recent years” which “impacted both the competitiveness and commercial viability of the business”.
Meanwhile, it was revealed last year that in 2023, the body representing Irish Catholic Bishops ploughed €400,000 into the loss-making Veritas.
The Irish Hierarchy made its intervention after a sharp downturn in fortunes for Veritas Communications.
The firm recorded post-tax losses of €224,868 in 2022, after recording a post-tax profit of €252,259 for 2021 – a negative swing of €477,127.
In a note attached to the Veritas Communications accounts, it stated that subsequent to the year end of 2022, “the group was in receipt of short-term funding from the Irish Hierarchy totalling €400,000”.
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Fantastic recognition. Proper order too that these great women are celebrated. Too long have women been written out of Irish history. This is a refreshing change for the better.
Great article and great to see these women being recognised…. Fair dues to all! Good job they weren’t nuns or we’d be inundated with the anti nun brigade even though there were lots of well intentioned religious who did similar when the state abandoned their responsibilities.
@Jerriko17: One good nun or priest, remaining so, if they were aware of what was going on in their religious institutions, are guilty by; Association.
@ÓDuibhír Abú: Typical!!!!!!!… Seemingly only nuns and priests can be guilty by association. Maybe those voted for the government of the times were guilty by association too. What a load of…… !
Great women. Makes you wonder how much more of an impact women like these would have had on the growing state without the dominant church influence.
@Lad_ Well we know that they had no personal involvement with men at all being as far as we know in a lesbian relationship for decades .This.gave them the freedom to concentrate on their important work something that would be impssible for most married catholic women , under strict instructions from the church to be forever bearing and rearing children , while being simultaneously without proper recognition in law ,
Fantastic to see, especially during pride month!
Better late than never .These women came from privileged ,enlightened backgrounds for which we.can only be truly grateful .They had great courage and energy and achieved what they did largely one suspects because they weren’t as suppressed and depressed as so many catholic women were .
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