Industrial action at the Moneypoint power plant appears to have been averted with the news that 200 Polish workers will receive a goodwill payment of €600,000.
However, their employer, a Polish subcontractor called ZRE Katowicz Ireland Ltd, is to to into liquidation and the staff will lose their jobs here.
Following the Irish operation's liquidation, the company is to offer all the workers positions in a separate company which it owns in Poland. ZRE Katowicz has also offered a commitment that the workers' flights home will also be paid if they require it.
The dispute arose after a contract for ZRE was terminated and the workers told they were no longer needed.
ZRE had been retained to do scaffolding work by Lentjes. The German firm had been appointed by the ESB to carry out a €380-million environmental refit of the plant.
When the workers sought their unpaid wages, none of the three companies were willing to accept responsibility. The TEEU maintained that the workers were owed up to eight weeks wages, including holiday pay and payment in lieu of notice.
The 200 Polish workers had been employed mainly as scaffolders and welders by ZRE.