Quinn to give special payments to workers

A special payment is to be made to staff at Superquinn, following the sale of the company.

A special payment is to be made to staff at Superquinn, following the sale of the company.

Mr Feargal Quinn said yesterday that the Quinn family "will recognise the loyalty and contribution of colleagues in the company in the event of the successful conclusion of the arrangements announced last week for the sale of shares to Select Retail Holdings". SRH is paying €450 million for Superquinn, and the family's share of this is about €270 million.

Mr Quinn said the commitment had been confirmed in a letter to workers' representatives. He did not indicate any specific sums in the statement. However, it is understood the payments may be based on length of service and could start in the hundreds of euro rather than thousands.

A spokesman for Mandate welcomed the annoucement. "We look forward now to sitting down and negotiating the details. We are pleased the principle has been accepted," he said.