Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I note the Leas-Cheann Comhairle ruled out of order a couple of amendments and I accept the ruling. However, I wish to make some observations on the section. I tabled the amendments in question in respect of an issue regarding Castlemahon Food Products Limited, which is in liquidation. A provisional liquidator was appointed on 26 September 2006 and the parent company was located in County Antrim. In May 2005, the workforce agreed to a restructuring plan covering a range of changes that included 150 redundancies at five weeks' pay for each year of service, inclusive of statutory entitlements. When the company went into liquidation in December 2006 with the loss of more than 300 jobs, the workers only received statutory redundancy for each year of service and the redundancy cost to the O'Kane group was nil.

Obviously, the group of workers who remained loyal to the company over the years felt completely let down. Many of the workforce had given up to 22 years of loyal service. As this is a liquidation process and the State is a preferential creditor, it is therefore entitled to a 40% rebate on the liquidation of the assets. The thrust of the amendments I tabled to this section was that when the liquidation process is involved and when only statutory redundancy is paid, this 40% rebate should be redistributed among the workforce. That was the basis on which I was trying to articulate the points regarding this section. The Minister of State should be able to give some information to Members as to how such legitimate concerns about a company that ceases trading under the insolvency legislation could be met. I refer to this case and others in which loyal workers should not have been deprived of their entitlements to such an extent.

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