About 400 workers and retired employees of the failed Irish Glass Bottle Company in Ringsend, Dublin, are to share a lottery-type payout following the sale of their sports grounds in Goatstown for €18.1 million.
However, before the proceeds of the sale can be divided among the club members, the company in which they are all shareholders will have to pay 20 per cent capital gains tax to the Revenue Commissioners.
And it won't end there. Once the members get their cheques they will have to pay a further 20 per cent capital gains tax, leaving the Revenue with over €7 million from the sale and the redundant workers with about €26,000 each.
Even that level of payout is not yet certain because a number of associate members of the club who used its facilities but were not employed by Irish Glass Bottle Company are now pressing to be included in the distribution of the funds.
Mr Ronan Webster of selling agents Insignia Richard Ellis Gunne said while some good had come from the closure of Irish Glass it was unfortunate that the workers would have to hand over 40 per cent of the windfall to the Revenue.
The 375 workers who lost their jobs at the Ringsend plant recently agreed a redundancy deal providing for maximum payments of up to €48,500 for those with long service.
Staff received five weeks' pay per year of service, plus statutory redundancy, but with a number of "caps" built in to limit the overall awards.
Two leading housebuilders, who bought the 11-acre grounds near the Goat Inn, are expected to make an application to Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to have it rezoned to accommodate a housing development.
The land is located in an area where house prices are rising rapidly because of their proximity to the Luas light rail service due to begin early in 2004.
The sports ground, originally covering an area of 15 acres, was bought by the Glass Bottle workers in 1958 with a bank loan. About four acres were subsequently sold for housing and the proceeds used to improve facilities for the members.
