A director of a grain merchants in business since the 1830s said yesterday his family was "destitute" following the collapse of the company. Mr Edward Kavanagh, of Edward Kavanagh (Maynooth) told creditors the board had voted to wind up the company yesterday morning. The creditors supported the company's appointment of Mr David Hughes as liquidator.
Last month Mr Hughes was appointed provisional liquidator by the High Court at the request of Quinns of Baltinglass, Co Wicklow.
"I never thought I would find myself and my family in this situation," Mr Kavanagh told the creditors at a meeting in a Dublin hotel. "I look at you all in this room and I see great anger, hurt, loss and broken friendships. You people do not deserve what has happened."
Mr Kavanagh said it would be of little comfort to the creditors to know that his family "has been left destitute. We did not go out to do this. All that could go wrong went wrong. It blew up in our faces."
More than 100 creditors, many of them farmers, attended the meeting, which lasted for more than one hour. While Mr Kavanagh came in for some hard questioning, the meeting was more solemn than angry.
Mr Kavanagh said there had been several problems which led to the company's collapse. Pig prices had dropped, euro weakness had caused difficulties and poultry prices had become "ridiculous". He said the BSE crisis had led the company to withdraw from the dairy cattle feed market, a decision which he described as "a very bad mistake".
Mr Kavanagh said the company had engaged in a disastrous property venture. It had encountered planning delays, without which the company might not have collapsed. Property values had dropped, so that the company's site in Maynooth, Co Kildare, which had been valued at £12 million (€15 million) to £13 million in January was now valued at £5-£6 million. Likewise, the valuation of a site in Ashbourne, Co Meath had dropped from £11 million in January to £2 million, Mr Kavanagh said. He had been told certain sites had dropped in value because banks were reluctant to fund developments and because of the Bacon report.
He said he hoped the creditors would get as much as possible in the pound. "I am truly sorry. We deeply regret the hurt we have caused to so many good people."
Asked to explain how the company had gone from being profitable to making a £1.4 million loss, Mr Kavanagh said he had legal advice not to discuss the accounts as he had been told that some creditors may intend taking legal action.
He said the Maynooth site was made up of two portfolios, one which included the mill and was valued at about £6 million and the other which included his home and was valued at about £1.5 million. The portfolios had existed for about 40 years. He had inherited the house from his grandparents.
