Late deal may save chicken plant

WORKERS and suppliers at Cappoquin Chickens in Co Waterford are hoping that a last-minute deal may yet save the troubled plant, amid news of new talks aimed at securing a buyer.

The chicken-processing factory is due to close in the coming weeks after it was put into liquidation early last month and employees were subsequently told that a buyer couldn’t be found for the business.

However, it emerged this week that a British food company has re-entered negotiations with the liquidator with a view to buying the business, which has existed in one form or another outside Cappoquin since the 1930s.

It is understood that Derby Poultry wants to buy the company with a group of investors but has yet to agree a price.

A figure of about €2 million was mentioned some weeks ago as an indication of the company’s value, but this may have changed in the meantime. It is thought another €1m would have to be put into the business to maintain it as a viable operation.

Monday of next week has been named as an unofficial deadline for the end of negotiations if Cappoquin Chickens is to continue trading past its due closure date.

Local poultry supplier and IFA poultry committee chairman Ned Morrissey said yesterday he was “hopeful rather than confident” about a sale being agreed in time.

“I’d be a bit concerned because it is the same group of people going at it again, for a third time. I won’t believe it [a sale] until I hear it from the liquidator.”

Mr Morrissey said Cappoquin Chickens remains “a huge opportunity” for a buyer or consortium, “with the right management”.

SIPTU area representative David Lane said time is running out if a late deal is going to save the company and the 250 part-time and full-time employees who work there. Dozens of chicken breeders, rearers and growers also depend on the business for their livelihood. “As long as talks are going on, there’s still hope, but that’s all it is at the moment,” said Mr Lane.

Moves are already under way to secure retraining for the plant’s staff and to help them find alternative employment, in the event of the expected closure coming to pass at the end of this month.

The O’Connor family who have run chicken processing businesses since the 1930s have cited cut-price imports, the recent avian flu scare and a loss of Irish competitiveness as reasons for the difficulties.