Up to 80 employees are facing redundancy at one of the west's largest meat processing plants.
Seán Duffy Exports in Gort, Co Galway has entered into negotiations with the North South Pig Company, with a view to selling its processing facilities and five-acre site. If the sale goes through, the majority of the 80-strong workforce will be made redundant.
Gort has become an enclave for Brazilians in recent years, and Seán Duffy Exports is credited with establishing the first link between Gort and the Brazilian town of Anapolis when the company brought six Brazilians over to work in the factory in 1999. Almost all of the factory's staff are now foreign nationals, with a particularly strong Brazilian contingent.
Although the operations will be significantly scaled back if the plant is sold to North South Pig, it is possible that some of workers may be re-employed by the new owners.
Managing director Seán Duffy expressed his regret yesterday that the company had been "forced into this position".
The plant was badly damaged by a fire in September 2004, which subsequently led to a legal dispute between the company and its insurers.
The dispute, which is currently subject to High Court proceedings, centred on the rebuilding of the factory's boning facility, with cost overruns bringing the project to a halt last October.
"The current legal proceedings and the ramifications of not being in a position to operate out of our boning facility left us with no choice but to consider the future options of the company," Mr Duffy said. "We believe it to be in the best interests of all our stakeholders to enter into negotiations to sell the plant.
"Putting legal proceedings aside, our current priority and concerns are with our employees who unfortunately will be made redundant," Mr Duffy continued.
"As part of our negotiations, we will endeavour to ensure that as many employees as possible will be re-employed."
The most recent accounts available for Seán Duffy Exports show that turnover for the year after the fire was €2.89 million, with profits of just over €260,000.
This covers the 12 months to October 31st, 2005. The previous year, the group made profits of nearly €640,000 on turnover of €2.47 million.
