Leave the Allens alone, Ballymaloe staff plead

STAFF at Ballymaloe have come out in public support of the troubled Allen family and made an impassioned plea for them to be left alone.

In a letter to the Irish Examiner, employees of Ballymaloe House and cookery school said they believed the family should now be allowed to get on with their lives.

"The Allens have been good employers and friends to us in times of need...We believe that the Allen family should now be allowed to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and we should be allowed to get on with our jobs."