Former Irish Steel workers get payout
The workers, who were made redundant in June 2001, when one of the world’s wealthiest men decided to close the plant in Haulbowline, Co Cork, are among preferential creditors designated by liquidator Ray Jackson of KPMG.
Mr Jackson said yesterday that in recent days former workers received cheques worth €1,000 each, which were in lieu of claims for minimum notice payments and holiday entitlements.
The liquidator said it was likely he would be able to pay out about 20% of the €30m owed to other preferential creditors such as the ESB, Bord Gáis and scrap suppliers.
“We have done a lot better with stock and the company’s debtors than we expected,” Mr Jackson said.
He said he was delighted he had been able to give the workers something in the run up to Christmas.
“At one stage it looked as if we wouldn’t be in a position to pay, but it’s money they are entitled to,” Mr Jackson said.
Minister for Commerce Michael Ahern welcomed the news yesterday, which he said would go someway to brightening the Christmases of those who had lost their jobs as a result of the steel plant’s closure three years ago.
Local county councillor John Mulvihill, who worked in the steel plant in the late 1970s, said any financial help for the workers was welcome. However, he claimed it was a pittance compared to the efforts they put in over the years.
“We cannot forget it was the workers who kept the plant going for the five years that Ispat were involved. The Ispat owner Lakashimi Mittal never paid them one penny in redundancy, other than their statutory redundancy. He’s worth an estimated €12 billion and yet the taxpayer is going to foot the clean-up bill at the plant,” Mr Mulvihill said.
It is expected that work on decontaminating the site will get underway early next year and could cost in the region of €30m.
Mr Mulvihill said there should an inquiry into the whole operation at Irish Steel, especially regarding how it was sold off to Mittal for just £1 (€1.27) in the mid-1990s.
“I also feel such an inquiry should focus on what Mr Mittall did with the money he received from the Port of Cork and a number of other bodies from the sale of some of Ispat’s land,” Mr Mulvhill said.
Only last month it was announced that Mittal, who has refused to pay the clean-up costs of the former Irish site, is set to form the world’s largest steel company in a €14 billion deal.
Mittal is to merge his family’s steel assets and buy the US-based International Steel Group Inc in a deal which will create the world’s biggest steel company, with operations in Europe, Africa, Asia and the US. Analysts say the enlarged group will be worth €16.5bn.
