Retail union Mandate had its motion seeking a crackdown on private equity activity passed unanimously at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions' biennial conference in Donegal last week, and Mandate general secretary John Douglas is demanding an overhaul of company acquisition regulations.

"The rules need to be more transparent in relation to private equity investments, particularly the level of debt target companies are loaded with.

There needs to be more stringent fiduciary rules, and a regulatory regime that seeks to monitor and control the amount of tax that can be wrote off against debt interest repayments, " he said.

Douglas argues that the Irish retail industry is a prime target for so-called international 'private equiteers' because of the enormous values ascribed to high street properties across Ireland, and with this in mind he said the union was currently keeping a close eye on the proposed �11bn leveraged buy-out of the Boots pharmacy chain by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR).

Around 1,500 Mandate members are employed by Boots in Ireland according to Douglas.

"In order for the property assets of a chain to be realised by investors a lot of outlets would have to be closed and that means a lot of jobs. Between 12 and 14% of the total workforce is employed in retail."

Property industry sources suggest Dublin's flagship store Arnotts, Shaws' 13 clothes stores, and Heatons 57 fashion outlets across Ireland make the chains attractive for a buy-out to realise property value.

Meanwhile private equity partnership Apax ranked Ireland as the joint seventh (alongside Australia) most attractive country for private equity investment out of 30 developed countries last week. The survey, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, judged nations on 42 criteria from judicial systems to political risk.