One of Ireland’s largest parcels and freight transport firms, Target Express, has collapsedsuddenly, leaving nearly 400 staff out of work and facing a long wait for unpaid salaries.
The company, registered as College Freight Ltd, declared itself insolvent at the start ofthis week, prompting ongoing sit-ins at several branches by workers who claimed they had not beeninformed by management of the situation.
Liquidators appointed by the Irish High Court have held meetings with workers over the lastfew days but warned they might have to wait up several months to receive unpaid salaries, accordingto several Irish media reports.
The Irish Examiner newspaper cited liquidator Michael McAteer as saying that the company is “hopelessly insolvent” and that there is no money to pay wages, meaning workers would have to getstatutory redundancy payments from the government.
But workers told several newspapers that they will continue their sit-ins until they arepaid. One Cork-based worker told the Irish Times that staff are looking for a “stamped, signed,ministerial guarantee” that monies will be released from the insolvency fund and fast-trackedwithin two weeks.
The firm’s collapse was reportedly prompted by a move by the Irish tax authorities to collectmoney owed by the company by freezing its accounts last Thursday.
Target Express owner Seamus McBrien, who founded the company 24 years ago, claimed he hadbeen forced to stop trading as a result of this move which was over debts of half a million euros.He claimed he had already paid €214,000 last week and had offered to pay a further €80,000 lastFriday.
The Irish Minister for Communications, Pat Rabbitte, criticised the way the firm’s collapsehad been handled, including the lack of information for staff, as “completely unacceptable” butdefended the actions of the tax authorities.
Target Express described itself as “the largest privately-owned transport and distributioncompany in Ireland” with 12 depots in the Republic of Ireland and four in the UK, as well as fourlogistics warehouses. The company’s website is no longer functioning.
