Workers picket site after not being paid by employer

UP to 20 workers picketed a building site in Cork city yesterday in protest at not being paid by their employer.

The men, some of whom are Polish, showed off cheques totalling thousands of euros, claiming two banks had refused to honour them.

The protest began shortly after 10am when a digger was drawn across a road to prevent deliveries being made to the site at Comeragh Park, The Glen the site of a multi-million euro housing regeneration project being undertaken by Cork City Council.

One sub contractor, Anthony O'Brien, said he was owed in the region of €45,000 by TJM, a company owned by Danny Hogan.

Mr O'Brien, from Knocklong, Co Limerick, said most of the workers had families to support.

"I have two cheques totalling €31,500 in my pocket and I've a tax bill of nearly €20,000 to pay. I have a wife, two kids and a big mortgage," Mr O'Brien said.

He claimed his wife tried to cash another TJM cheque for €7,000 yesterday and again the bank refused to honour it.

"I've made a commitment to pay four of the Polish lads myself. I'm desperate. He (Danny Hogan) basically doesn't seem to have the money to pay us and he's a limited company," Mr O'Brien said.

He collected a large number of cheques from other workers which had been returned by both Allied Irish Bank and Ulster Bank.

Mr Hogan was persuaded to come to the site yesterday and speak with worker representatives, including Mr O'Brien, who has also been in touch with SIPTU on the matter.

Mr O'Brien said that representatives of the main contractors at the site, Pierse Construction, had been doing their best to try and resolve the situation. "My business is gone if I don't get this money," Mr O'Brien said.

One worker, who did not wish to be named, said he had a wife and four children to support and was still waiting for a €950 cheque to be passed by his bank. Others claimed they hadn't been paid for three weeks.

A number of Mr Hogan's workers at a site in Tralee, Co Kerry, started an unofficial strike at a €27 million development earlier this week also claiming they hadn't been paid.

Mr Hogan said yesterday he was arranging to borrow money from a bank to ensure all the men were paid in full.