THOMAS CROSBIE Holdings (TCH) was described as being in “a perilous financial position”, in the High Court yesterday.
The statement was challenged before Mr Justice Michael Peart by barrister Eoin Clifford, counsel for the newspaper group, who said that description was not accepted by the company.
Mr Clifford said the situation had been addressed in an affidavit of group human resources manager Barry Colgan, who said TCH was in ongoing dialogue with its bankers in relation to its banking facilities.
He said the group continued to enjoy the support of its bankers and shareholders. It owned a stable of well-known brands including the Irish Examiner and Sunday Business Post and employed 600 people.
It was Patrick O’Reilly, counsel for former Roscommon Herald chief executive Brian Nerney, who said TCH was in a perilous financial position.
Mr Nerney, of Carrick Road, Boyle, Co Roscommon, is seeking an injunction restraining TCH from dismissing him and reinstating him in the event of the court deciding he had been made redundant.
Mr O’Reilly told the court that TCH, which owns the Roscommon Herald, had conceded in correspondence that the group was in severe financial difficulty. He said this had a bearing on reaching any agreement on adjourning his application for an early full hearing.
He told Mr Justice Peart the company’s actions were in breach of Mr Nerney’s contract of employment. He had spent 27 years with the Roscommon Herald, which his parents had owned before he took it over in 1994. He sold the newspaper to TCH in 2004 and stayed on as CEO.
Mr Nerney said he was told in June that TCH was considering making him redundant. On July 17th he got a letter stating his position was being made redundant and told not to come to the Roscommon Herald offices from the following day – in effect being given six hours to leave his office.
He said that by being asked to leave at short notice a finger of suspicion had been pointed at him. Word of his removal had spread throughout the county and he believed people thought he had committed an offence that necessitated his removal.
Mr Colgan said TCH had been reviewing its operations in order to achieve cost efficiencies. The group had made 54 people redundant since 2011 and Mr Nerney himself had been involved in implementing cost-cutting measures.
As CEO of the Roscommon Herald he had to make four people redundant in the past three years and seven of the 15 full-time employees had been placed on short-time working.
Mr Justice Peart will continue the hearing of Mr Nerney’s application today.