The High Court has appointed Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton as interim examiner to Siac Construction Ltd and eight other companies in the building group.

The move means that the companies involved have protection from their creditors until at least Wednesday, November 6th, when the matter will go to a full hearing.

The court heard that the nine companies are effectively insolvent, but an independent accountant's report provided by Kieran Wallace of KPMG shows that they do have a reasonable prospect of survival, one of the key criteria for having an examiner appointed in the first place.

Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan agreed to appoint Mr McAteer as interim examiner to Siac Construction Ltd, and to the eight other group entities.

These include Siac Holdings, Siac Holdings (Ireland), a number of property companies, and manufacturing operations, Siac Bituminous Products and Siac Butler’s Steel.

She told representatives of two creditors, KC Civil Engineering and Sabre Electrical Services, who were in court, that they would have an opportunity to raise any objections at the full hearing on November 6th.

The judge stressed that the appointment was on an interim basis only, and was simply meant to preserve and protect the companies’ position unitl the full hearing.

She ordered that the appointment be advertised in national papers in Ireland, Britain and Poland.