Ms Maeve McElwee:

It is not considered to be a statutory payment. That is the challenge. It is a voluntarily-agreed payment. I reiterate I am not a company law expert but as I understand it, the liquidator is charged with discharging all of the legal obligations of the firm to the greatest extent possible. Given that a collective agreement is not a legal agreement and is not a legally binding obligation on the liquidator, the liquidator must first deal with all the other assets to be discharged and does not take into account voluntarily-agreed collective agreements.