Gort plant to sue for €10m

Date Published: 24-May-2007

The Duffy Meat Plant in Gort, which closed down last month, is now expected to proceed with a €10m insurance claim against the Quinn Direct Group in the Commercial Court in Dublin over the coming months.

The pending claim from Duffys comes in the wake of a Commercial Court settlement last week in which Quinn Direct settled a €54 million claim brought by the Murray Timber Group in Ballygar following a fire on their premises on August 24, 2005.

Last month the Duffy Meat Group — which at one point employed up to 150 people at its Gort plant — closed for business following unsuccessful negotiations with the Quinn Group over an insurance claim relating to a fire at their plant on September 17, 2004.

Since that fire, which caused millions of euro worth of damage to the factory, negotiations have been ongoing between Duffy Meats and Quinn Direct.

At one stage, the Connacht Tribune has learned, there was agreement between both parties that the insurers would take on the reconstruction of the building themselves — some of that work has been completed, but 32 months on………………..