An action group to represent creditors of the troubled telecoms group Smart Telecom has been set up and is looking for more members.

A spokeswoman for the group said it had five creditors who are together owed about €3 million. However she believed there were up to 28 substantial creditors who were together owed possibly as much as €40 million.

"We have a number of members at the moment and we are hoping others will get in contact," she said.

The Smart Creditors Action Group is to be chaired by business adviser Martin Ferris of Ferris & Associates. Its first meeting is to be held next week, when the group will decide on how to go forward.

Mr Ferris is an experienced liquidator. He acted as nominee for the Rocca family on the board of Linfen, the company that bought Rocca Tiles and Tilebusters in 2000.

An extraordinary general meeting of Smart Telecom shareholders is to be held on October 31st at which shareholders are to be asked to vote on a proposal that the business be bought by BidCo, a vehicle controlled by Brendan Murtagh.

Mr Murtagh owns 20 per cent of Smart, which has liabilities of up to €40 million.

The spokeswoman said the creditors group will act in the same way as a creditors committee of inspection in a liquidation situation. Its main aim will be to ensure that unsecured creditors are dealt with responsibly and debts paid in full in the shortest time possible.

It will also seek to protect the legal rights of creditors and to facilitate "the visibility of actions taken by directors, shadow directors and management of Smart Telecom in regard to the settling of these debts".

The group can be contacted at scactiongroup@yahoo.co.uk