Creditors appointed to DIY department store Homebase have approve plans to close three of its Irish outlets.

The chain’s new owner will close 42 stores in the UK and Ireland by early next year after the plan was approved.

A total of 1500 people are set to lose their jobs across all the retailer’s outlets.

The Irish stores affected are the two Dublin outlets - at Fonthill and Naas Road - and one in Limerick.

The closures are part of a ‘Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA)' put in place by the chain’s new owners Hilco Capital.

The CVA was put forward on August 14th and was today approved by 95.92% of the company’s creditors.

Following the announcement, Homebase CEO Damian McGloughlin said he was pleased the “overwhelming majority” of creditors had supported the plans.

“We now have the platform to turn the business around and return to profitability,2 he said.

“This has been a difficult time for many of our team members and I am very grateful for their continued support and hard work.

“We can look to the future with great confidence and we will be working closely with our suppliers to capitalise on the opportunities we see in the home improvement market in the UK and Ireland.”

The controversial ‘CVA’ insolvency mechanism has already been used by other UK retailers, including Carpetright, Mothercare and New Look this year.

Hilco, which rescued HMV five years ago, has been working on the CVA since buying Homebase from Australian group Wesfarmers for £1 in late May.

Wesfarmers originally paid £340m (€377.5m) for the chain in 2016.

Homebase has already closed 18 stores in recent months.