IFI closure claims raise ‘serious questions’

THERE was angry reaction last night to revelations that the Government delayed its decision to shut down the stricken Irish Fertiliser Industries (IFI) plants until after the general election.

The Irish Examiner revealed yesterday that IFI company documents contain evidence that government officials were told a year before its closure that the plant was unsustainable. The documents go on to state that the company’s 620 jobs could not have been saved.

East Cork Fine Gael TD David Stanton said the revelations raised serious political and legal questions for the Government. Speaking in Cobh, Mr Stanton said that if the suggestion that the plants were kept open to avoid bad news in the run-up to the election was true, the Government and the Tánaiste would have to take responsibility for the substantial reduction to the pension fund and for losses to the workers and creditors.

“Other serious questions will arise if it is proven that the Government allowed the company to trade knowing that losses would be incurred which would seriously impinge and reduce monies available to be paid creditors,” said Mr Stanton, adding that he would raise the matter in the Dáil when it resumes at the end of January.

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

However, IFI’s Belfast-based business analysis manager Morris Weir said on Thursday that government officials knew in November 2001 that none of the survival plans for the company was viable.

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

However, a spokesperson for Tánaiste Mary Harney rejected the claims, while government sources said the decision to shut down IFI just a week before the Nice Treaty vote shows the move was proof the move was not politically motivated.

IFI’s 620 workers 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.