Dunnes Stores has said that it does not spy on customers in changing rooms. The assertion follows the settlement of a case of a security woman who fell through a ceiling in a Dunnes Stores shop.
Ms Mary Glennon is believed to have received more than £65,000 in damages.
The incident happened about 8.25 a.m. on June 29th, 1993, before the Stephen's Green Centre outlet had opened, a company source said.
Ms Glennon had been in the roof space for more than an hour watching staff working on the fashion floor. Four other security staff had been on duty from earlier that morning.
Initial court statements indicated that Ms Glennon had been spying on changing rooms in the ladies' fashion department.
A company spokesman insisted yesterday that the surveillance operation was conducted outside store opening hours.
Counsel for Ms Glennon said on Wednesday she had been told to observe the "goings on" in the ladies' changing rooms with a view to checking if there was theft.
She had been uncomfortably "perched" in the space and tried to get down. She fell 12 to 14 feet as she made her way along girders.
A company spokesman said no covert observation of customers was taking place and there was no question of spying on customers while they were in changing rooms.
"There is no covert surveillance of any kind of customers and particularly in respect of any private activity."
Store security consists of store detectives on the shop floor and closed-circuit cameras in some stores.
"There is no other security other than what people can see."
New technology meant that surveillance operations would be more likely to use camera technology rather than "putting people up in ceilings". In one surveillance operation a camera was installed over a till in a branch of Dunnes Stores outside Dublin.
"Unions can feel assured that there would be no covert surveillance unless there was a very good reason to believe it was needed."
A spokesman for the Dunnes Stores union Mandate said there had been some incidents where staff felt that surveillance had been "over-zealous or intrusive".
But the number of cases was small, the incidents had been dealt with as they arose and it was not a major concern of staff.
