Debenhams workers liquidation
Richard Boyd Barrett raised the Debenhams liquidation, saying workers were left with nothing while hedge funds and banks took large sums and asked whether the Corporate Enforcement Authority had examined the case. The Taoiseach described it as a complex insolvency, said he was unsure of the facts as presented, and suggested inquiries could be made with the authority.
This Saturday, the film "406 Days" about the 406 days the Debenhams workers were in dispute with the Debenhams company will premier at the Dublin International Film Festival. It has just won the festival's human rights prize. One thing it highlights is that the Celine group, made up of three US hedge funds, Barclay's Bank and Bank of Ireland, walked away with £315 million from the liquidation whereas the workers who built the value of the company and had worked for decades were left with absolutely nothing. The vulture funds and the asset strippers walk away with all the money and the workers who built that company are left with nothing. Last December, I raised with the Taoiseach's predecessor, Deputy Michael Martin-----
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-----the fact that €200 million debt was loaded on the Irish company by this consortium to ensure that the workers got absolutely nothing. I took the issue with the workers-----
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-----to the Corporate Enforcement Authority. Will the Taoiseach check what report, if any, has come back from the Corporate Enforcement Authority about the tactical nature of the liquidation which left those workers with nothing-----
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-----and whether the law was broken in the treatment of the Debenhams workers?
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This is a complicated insolvency involving a company based in Britain. I am not sure if the way that the Deputy described things is exactly the case. I do not know whether the Corporate Enforcement Authority has examined it fully and come to a determination on it so I would prefer not to comment on it. Either the Deputy or myself can make inquiries with the Corporate Enforcement Authority as to whether there is a case or not.
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It will not get back to us.