POWERSCOURT Springs, one of the country's best known spas, has closed its doors, leaving up to 70 people out of work. In August, owners Paul and Fiona Hanby and Patricia and Gerald Kinsella, announced the sale of the spa development, although the name of the new owner and future plans for the site have yet to be revealed.
Unhappy with planned redundancy packages, some of the workers had threatened a sit- in, however, this was narrowly averted when an 11th- hour agreement on redundancy packages was formulated.
With the threat of the sit- in in the background, the directors of the company came back to the table with an extra two week's pay per year of service for staff.
Powerscourt Springs is owned by Paul and Fiona Hanby and Patricia and Gerald Kinsella. Employees had been left disappointed and angered when a standard redundancy package of just two week's pay for every year was offered to them when news of the closure was revealed several weeks ago.
' The Government gives 60 per cent of this back to the company,' said a negotiator on behalf of the workers ahead of the closure.
During initial negotiations, the owners of the company, who are believed to have made over € 3 million on the sale, told staff the company was struggling and there would be little or no money left over after commitments to the bank were fulfilled.
' We had taken it as far as we could so we were happy with the final deal that was made,' said one now former employee of Powerscourt Springs. ' There are no hard feelings between staff and the company directors.'
Edenderry hotel jobs lost
A possible 100 jobs have been lost in Edenderry with the news that the company behind the planned Plaza Hotel is to go into liquidation. Plaza Developments Limited and KCDLG Forbairt Holdings Limited & Cos Acts applied to the High Court to be allowed go into liquidation and the order was granted with the appointment of a liquidator to follow.The project which has hit many stumbling blocks has now ground to a halt following the High Court Application.
It seemed full steam ahead for the project when in early July an Examiner was appointed to the project to devise and implement an investment programme for the project. The promoters, in welcoming the decision at the time, said it would mean people would not have to leave the community and travel significant distances to conduct familly and business functions.Promoters sought the appointment of an examiner to protect not only the future of the project but the 100 or so full and part time jobs expected to be created on foot of its completion, not to mention those in the construction sector to complete the half constructed hotel.The project was expected to generate millions of euro in income annually for the town.
Last July the project was only 40% completed.Promoters Ger Killally, Declan Ging, Richie Connor and Frank Lawlor invested large amounts of their own funds into the Plaza development, which began in 2006 with a price tag of e26 million.The hotel, when complete would have encompassed 94 bedrooms, a prominent reception area and lounge, a restaurant, bar and state of the art leisure centre.It was said at the time that more than one investor had expressed interest within a week of the examiner being appointed.
