Local retailers and traders in Coolock believe that the 900 jobs lost through the Gateway closure will inevitably affect their businesses. All agreed that local trade would be affected by the closure.

"Being a local industry, we get a certain amount of spin-off business which will probably affect us in the long-term," said Mr Sean Stewart, manager of Bests at the Northside Shopping Centre.

"With so many working people being taken out of the equation in the catchment area of the Northside Shopping Centre, it will have some effect. But it's hard to determine the level of the effect at the moment."

The manager of the RTV electrical shop in the centre, Mr Aidan D'arcy, said many of his customers worked in Gateway. "Naturally enough, it's going to hit the local economy. I can't see it hitting the supermarkets as hard as sellers of luxury items like ourselves. It's a blow for the area."

Ms Alexis Scott, manager of Gerry Keane Wallpapers and Paints, said Gateway's demise could have a knock-on effect. "I'm hoping it won't affect us. But people mightn't have the money to consider decorating. We have found it quiet lately without this," she said.

"More or less everybody that was in Gateway lives locally. It will have a major effect," said Mr Zainel Kassam, manager of Catch clothes shop.

Across the road in the local pub, Liz Delaney's, manager Mr Noel Price said the closure was "horrendous" for the area, and that many Gateway employees drank in the pub. "We've no idea how it will affect us. It has only just happened. It has to be devastating for people who work there and for their families. I'm worried for them," he said.

A director for the Northside Partnership, Mr Pat Bowen, said the closure will have a major effect. "The ripple effect will go through the area insofar as it has been generally reckoned for every sort of manufacturing job that you create, you create the equivalent of another job somewhere else in the economy," he said.