Cabinet approval is to be sought for a "fair and reasonable" redundancy package for workers at Irish Fertilizer Industries (IFI), the Tanáiste, Ms Harney, said yesterday.
She told trade union representatives at a meeting in Dublin that workers at the IFI plants in Cork, Arklow and Belfast, which are to close with the loss of 620 jobs, were entitled to expect more than statutory redundancy.
Union leaders hope to begin detailed discussions on a severance package in the coming days and, in the meantime, will continue to facilitate an orderly winding-down of the company.
Workers were informed on Tuesday that the company, which is jointly owned by the State and British chemical company ICI, was going into liquidation.
The company has been hit by a slump in the European fertiliser market in recent years, and a request to the Government and ICI in July for a €25 million cash injection to keep it afloat was rejected.
Ms Harney said yesterday, following her meeting with union leaders, that it was not possible to put more money into the firm in the absence of a viable business plan.
She confirmed at the meeting that the shareholders "would be prepared to put money aside to ensure that the workers got a fair and reasonable redundancy payment", she said. She was not in a position to say exactly how much would be paid, as this would require Cabinet approval.
"But the Government wants to make sure that the workers who worked in IFI are treated fairly and reasonably in these circumstances."
Regarding the prospect of any of the plants being sold as going concerns, she said she did not wish to raise false hopes "but it may well be that in a liquidation situation, some part of IFI could be disposed of to somebody who would keep the business going".
Mr Noel Dowling of SIPTU, one of four unions represented at the meeting, said Ms Harney's idea of a "fair and decent" settlement and that of the workers "might be two different things".
The unions had requested an immediate meeting with the proposed liquidator to discuss the issue.
In the meantime, workers would continue to co-operate with an orderly winding-down of the company, "and whether that continues throughout the process depends on the amount of progress we make".
Representatives of the TEEU, the AEEU and MSF were also in the 10-person delegation that met the Tanáiste.
Mr Ray Jackson of KPMG is expected to be appointed liquidator, although it is understood he had not been approached by yesterday afternoon.
