Company won’t have IFA’s goodwill without meaty fund

IFA in Co Limerick says the new owners of the Tralee Beef and Lamb Company won’t have their “goodwill” unless farmers are compensated for €3.5m unpaid for livestock supplied to the plant before its financial collapse.

“Any attempt to re-open the premises as a meat factory will not have the goodwill of farmers,” said Michael O’Flynn, chairman, Limerick IFA, who has been actively involved in negotiations with the new owners. He said negotiations on IFA’s demand for a contribution towards a goodwill fund for the unpaid farmers are “difficult”.

Farmers are not preferential creditors for distribution of any proceeds from the sale of the premises.

However, Mr O’Flynn said Limerick IFA wants to see the factory re-opened for slaughtering of cattle and sheep. He said for many smaller suppliers, the money owed to them was more than they could afford.