The imminent loss of more than 300 jobs following the appointment of a liquidator to Castlemahon Foods has been described as a devastating blow to the west Limerick community.
The plant, which has been the area's biggest employer for decades, is supplied by up to 80 poultry growers who also fear the plant's imminent closure.
John Hunt, president of the chamber of commerce in Newcastlewest, where many of the workers live, said: "This is a devastating blow to the community and is akin to Limerick city losing a Dell, or Leixlip losing an Intel plant."
Liquidator Kieran Wallace met the workers yesterday after his appointment by the High Court and said he would return to them again next week when he has had time to assess the company's options.
"We are going to trade as normal for the next few days while we see what the options are," Mr Wallace said last night.
"Obviously, we'll be doing everything we can to see if there is anybody willing to buy the plant," he added.
The O'Kane Group acquired Castlemahon Food Products in 1984 and it operated successfully for a number of years.
In a statement released yesterday, O'Kane Group said that, following a "long period of unprofitable trading", recent attempts to restructure or sell the business as a going concern had been unsuccessful.
Thereafter, it had written off loans of €12 million to the company.
"The withdrawal of banking facilities to support the operations of the business," the statement added, "resulted in yesterday's application to the High Court to appoint a liquidator."
Mr Wallace said that the group's €14.9 million liabilities had been put to one side as a result of the liquidation process. That might serve to enhance the prospects of a sale as a going concern.
However, he noted that there were few similar businesses in that part of the State, which presented additional difficulties in sourcing a trade buyer.
Many workers leaving the plant yesterday, however, held out little hope that their jobs could be saved.
"It's a very sad day for the whole community," said one worker. "Nobody really thinks there is much hope of saving the plant."
Another employee said it would cost the area in the region of €20 million a year in terms of loss of revenue from the plant.
The directors of Castlemahon said they regretted yesterday's actions, but said that it was unavoidable following the "sustained substantial losses".
Fine Gael Limerick West TD Dan Neville said yesterday that the news was "particularly devastating" for the area of west Limerick where the population was in decline and where there were severely limited job opportunities.
"The news that Castlemahon Food Products' poultry processing plant is set to close is a major body blow to the local population and compounds the situation which arose in January 2005 when 140 poultry jobs were lost at Kantoher Poultry Products and 140 jobs at that time in Castlemahon," said Mr Neville.
