Cappoquin Chickens in Co Waterford is to be wound after efforts to put together a rescue package to save the company failed, it emerged today.
John O'Connor, whose grandfather founded the business in the 1930s, told The Irish Timesthat he "deeply regretted" the action but that their resources had been exhausted. The plant will be closed within six weeks.
Representatives of some 200 workers will be formally told the news at a meeting with the receiver this afternoon. jobs at Cappoquin Chickens in Co Waterford, after a receiver was appointed to the company.
Earlier this summer, the High Court heard that Michael D O'Connor Sons and Company, which trades as Cappoquin Chickens, showed a deficit of €806,000 on an ongoing basis and had a winding up basic deficit totalling €7 million.
Mr O'Connor said earlier this month that Cappoquin, like the rest of the Irish poultry industry, had suffered as a result of the bird flu scare and rising prices for chicken feed, as well as from cheaper foreign imports.
The company contributes €6 million to €7 million annually in wages in the locality and a further €1.5 million in payments to chicken producers.
Labour party TD Brian O'Shea said today's news would come as "a devastating blow to the workers at the plant, local growers, and the entire community in West Waterford."
"When the news broke earlier this month that Cappoquin was to be liquidated, we hoped against hope that closure would not come to pass. Sadly those hopes have now been dashed," he said.
"I am calling on Enterprise Minister Mary Coughlan, Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith, and Minister for Food, Trevor Sargent, to pull out all the stops to make sure that everything possible is retrieved from this situation."
