Claim that IFI closure was delayed on purpose

Carl O’Brien

Company documents seen by the Irish Examiner show Government officials were told a year before its closure that the plant was unsustainable and 620 jobs could not be saved.

The decision to continue operating meant IFI continued to accumulate major losses and wiped millions off funds available for pension and redundancy packages.

IFI's Belfast-based business analysis

manager Morris Weir has revealed it was made clear to Government officials in November 2001 that none of the survival plans examined were viable.

"There was no basis to keep it open. The figures just didn't stack up...They were all given a copy of the strategic review and it didn't pull any punches," Mr Weir said.

Workers' representatives now say it is clear the Government, the majority shareholder in IFI, delayed it closure until after last year's general election.

Stephen O'Riordan, a worker director at the Cork plant, said they had been duped into discussing last-gasp rescue plans when the Government knew it was going to close.

"If this happened to a private company, Tánaiste Mary Harney and her colleagues would be out with condemnation," he said.

However, claims that its closure was

delayed for political reasons have been strongly rejected by a spokesperson for Tánaiste Mary Harney. The board and management of IFI considered a wide range of rescue plans which might have provided a basis for establishing a viable business up until its closure, according to Ms Harney's department.

These included shutting down the Cork plant and keeping Arklow and Belfast open due to the spiralling cost of gas.

This, however, appears to conflict with Mr Weir's account that several rescue plans including shutting down Cork were

examined a year before its closure but were not considered viable.

Government sources also say the decision to shut down IFI on October 15, 2002 a week or so before the Nice Treaty vote shows the move was not politically motivated.

While IFI has struggled on-and-off for the best part of a decade, it was hit by a fatal hammer blow in September 2001 when its credit terms with Bord Gáis were changed.

This move, coupled with dramatic

increases in gas transmission costs, meant it was cheaper to import fertiliser than manufacture it in Ireland.

IFI's 620 workers now face an uncertain future as there is not enough money to pay them their full pension and redundancy packages.

Workers say they have been promised

between two and two-and-a-half weeks per year of service, well short of the five-and-a-half weeks they say they are

entitled to.

Mr O'Riordan said the Government now had a moral obligation to ensure workers were paid their full entitlements.