The decision by the board of Irish Fertilizer Industries (IFI) to seek the appointment of a liquidator was made for straightforward reasons. After lengthy attempts to come up with a viability plan, it was clear that there was no commercial future for the operation, as fertiliser can be imported from overseas suppliers much more cheaply than it can be made by IFI.
The prospects for saving any of the 620 jobs in the plants in Arklow, Belfast and Cork are thus slim.
Attempts to find a formula to save IFI have continued for some years now. The Government, which owns 51 per cent, and the British company, ICI, which holds the remaining shares, spent considerable effort trying to find a buyer which could give IFI a viable future. More recently, the owners have sought - unsuccessfully - to develop a viability plan for producing fertiliser at a competitive cost.
The decision is a serious blow to the employees involved and their communities. IFI, formerly NET, has been a significant employer in Marino Point and Arklow for many years, while the Richardson's Fertilizer plant in Belfast was an important economic contributor to the north inner city. The Government points out that following the closure of Irish Ispat - the former Irish Steel - last year, 75 per cent of the employees who registered with FÁS subsequently found work. However in the meantime the economic climate has worsened significantly and job opportunities are less plentiful.
The future of the assets of IFI will now be the responsibility of the liquidator, whose job it will be to assess how to realise the maximum value from their sale. Whether this process can save any of the jobs involved remains to be seen. Certainly the conversion of natural gas to ammonia - undertaken at the Marino Point plant - appears to be completely uneconomic. International fertiliser companies will look at IFI's business and consider whether the plants at Arklow and Belfast might be viable, using imported ammonia. However, unless a deal can be done quickly, the prospect of any significant number of jobs being saved looks fairly remote.
Faced with falling fertiliser prices and no viability plan, IFI's owners had little option but to seek the appointment of a liquidator. The Government cannot continue to invest money in an industry which has no clear strategic importance - after all fertiliser can be readily purchased on international markets. This is cold comfort to the employees involved, who must now await the arrival of the liquidator.