John Whelan (Labour)

I do indeed. We learned of a downside at that function. Many of the producers we met last night raised the shocking situation where many of them and others around the county are left severely out of pocket due to the closure and subsequent buy out of Superquinn by another company. In fact the estimates range from €28 million up to €100 million. I call on the Leader to raise this issue as a matter of urgency with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton because more jobs will be lost this week, in what I believe was sharp practice and shoddy work. Superquinn did not close down overnight. This was a planned close down and the purchase and buyout was not something that happened over 24 hours. In fact, 90 days credit was squeezed out of these small producers and I understand from talking directly to them, that some of them are owed anything from €35,000 up to amounts ranging into the millions. They cannot sustain that. Some of them are in tears today. They are shattered,because their own businesses will now go to the wall. I believe the banks had a role to play in this because they clawed back what was owed to them over the 90 days. If this kind of sharp practice continues it will put people out of business. Most small Irish producers and companies cannot sustain that loss in terms of their cash flow. It is wrong that cheques were issued to these businesses on Friday by people who knew they could never be cashed.