Taxpayers lose £50,000 as Swiss firm quits Dingle

April 1994

AN ESTIMATED £50,000 of state funding is likely to have been lost following the sudden closure this week of a Dingle-based company which was earmarked for a further £80,000 investment by Údarás na Gaeltachta.

KM Teo, a data processing company based at Milltown in Dingle, closed down in dramatic circumstances leaving eleven people out of work. They hadn’t been paid for five weeks.

Údarás spokesman Pádraig Ó hÉalain confirmed that £50,000 in grants had already been invested in KM Teo, and that the staff of the company were informed of the closure in an unexpected announcement from the company’s boss in Switzerland.

“We are completely dissatisfied with the dismissive and arbitrary fashion in which the staff were treated. The company closed down suddenly on foot of a long distance phone call from Switzerland and we feel this isn’t good enough,” he said.

“We were in regular contact with the company and it seemed to be going okay. So there was absolutely no prior notice about this. It now emerges that the staff haven’t been paid for five weeks and our immediate priority is to see that they are looked after.”

Mr Ó hÉalain explained that KM Teo was given £50,000 in grants from Údarás na Gaeltachta when it started up in Dingle less than a year ago.

A total of £20,000 of this went towards the equipment which was needed at the company, with the remaining £30,000 going towards staff wages and staff training.

He said that while the funding spent on staff training could be viewed as a useful investment, he could not confirm if the equipment grant-aided by Údarás was still in the building.

“I presume that these assets are still there at the company and I have no evidence to the contrary.”

Mr Ó hÉalain said there was no question of any misuse of State funding in Údarás na Gaeltachta’s involvement with KM Teo.

The company was earmarked for a total investment of £120,000, but only £50,000 of this had actually been spent up to the date of the closure.

“This money was spent mainly on training of staff and equipment,” he said He confirmed that the main investors behind the KM Teo project were two Swiss nationals, both of whom are currently in Switzerland.

Asked about the future of the company, he said: “The law will take its course. I presume the question of liquidation will arise over the next few days.”

One of the former employees of KM Teo, Padraig O’Sullivan from Dingle, said the workers were “devastated” both by the company and by Údarás.

St Mary’s, Castleisland, winners of the ladies open championship. Front row (from left): Jackie Hartnett, Julianne Broderick, Sandra Hartnett (capt), Liz Downey, Ann Kerins. Back row: Joanne Walmsley, Sonia Lyons, Bridget O’Connor, Maria O’Connor and Donal O’Connor (coach).