Cleaning firm defends keeping staff in stable

A BRITISH-based cleaning company has defended its decision to put its contract employees up in a stable during the Oxegen music festival.

One of its employees, Portuguese woman Sonia Mendes, said she quit in disgust when she arrived at Oxegen last Tuesday to find that the 30 Portuguese and Polish contract workers were to be put up in a stable at Punchestown racecourse.

Ms Mendes told RTÉ Radio yesterday that when they arrived there were only 20 camp beds for them and that the company involved, Cleanevent, only sourced more beds and blankets after they went to gardaí to complain.

She also alleged that the Portuguese contract cleaning workers opted to sleep in a kitchen instead.

In response, Cleanevent said the stables involved were refurbished and heated and the stable block had facilities and restaurant area capable of producing hot food with an attached recreational area with seating and a television.

The company admitted that it did not have enough camp-beds at first because the hired contractor had not delivered them and sufficient air mattresses were sourced and delivered within an hour of Cleanevent's staff's arrival.

The statement also denied a suggestion by Ms Mendes that staff were hungry. Cleanevent said they overbooked their meal allocations by 40 per cent to ensure that everybody got enough.

"We are satisfied that the accommodation provided is of a good standard, and is in line with - if not better than - that normally provided to cleaning and other contracted staff working on comparable outdoor events such as Glastonbury," the statement concluded.

Promoters MCD, which hired Cleanevent, said the welfare of contract staff was the responsibility of the contract agency.

Oxegen '08 closed on Sunday night with a headline performance from American group Rage Against The Machine. Stewards struggled to hold back fans who wanted to get into the pit area near the front of the stage.

Lead singer Zach De La Rocha is noted for his politically-charged on-stage pronouncements.

At Oxegen's sister festival, T in the Park, De La Rocha called for George W Bush to be impeached, but at Oxegen itself he only introduced the band and never uttered another word to the crowd.

Gardaí reported no major incidents as staff left the campsite yesterday morning.

Public transport arrangements for Oxegen proved successful.

By 10am yesterday all but 12,500 of the 80,000 had left Punchestown racecourse.