Staff at Viasec, a Donegal-based software company in which Eircom has a strategic interest, have been put on notice that they will not be paid this month because of funding difficulties.
The news comes a week after the collapse of Ebeon, the technology company which was 51 per cent owned by Eircom. It folded with the loss of 170 jobs after Eircom refused to provide any further funds to the company. Viasec, which employs 50 people in Donegal town, told staff on Thursday that because of a delay in securing fresh venture capital, wages due for January would not be paid at the end of the month. Mr Niall McEvoy, head of human resources, said the company has not put a date on when payments would be made.
A hardship fund has been set up to alleviate staff difficulties until new funds are secured. The company also intends to pay each employee a £500 bonus in compensation for any hardship experienced during the delay as soon as funds were eventually put in place, he said.
Chief executive Dr David Doherty said there was no problem with wages and that it had decided to notify staff ahead of any delay. Viasec develops security software for e-mail and has been in business for five years. Enterprise Ireland has a small shareholding in the company while Eircom has a 30 per cent shareholding.
The company said it had raised venture capital with an investment to be made by Merrion Capital and Harvest Finance. This deal was to be finalised last week - on the day Ebeon collapsed - and has been slightly delayed.
Harvest already has an 11 per cent shareholding while senior management own more than 50 per cent of the company.
Viasec refused to comment on whether it had agreed bridging finance, while it was waiting to complete the fund-raising. Dr Doherty also refused to disclose how much money it was seeking but it was believed to exceed £2 million. The funds will be used to expand its sales force to raise the firm's presence in the US market.
Viasec was founded by Dr Doherty, Mr Niall McMullin and Mr Gerry McDevitt. It has offices in Donegal, the US and in Europe.
It has invested substantially in research and development since its inception and is shortly due to introduce a new security software product. The firm has been loss-making and has raised funds recently from Eircom and Harvest.
Around 40 technicians at Eircell's national maintenance centre staged an unofficial industrial action yesterday in protest at delays in resolving the compensation issue ahead of the Vodafone sale. A company spokeswoman said there had been no disruption to Eircell's services. Up to 40 members of the Communications Workers Union walked out of the in Clonskeagh, Dublin, yesterday at 1 p.m. But their colleagues expected in at 5 p.m. for the evening shift did resume work.
