Reporters were refused access to the Irish Fertiliser Industries (IFI) creditors' meeting at Leopardstown in south Dublin yesterday.
But there was no doubting the glum mood of the many IFI workers at the meeting in the racecourse, with some carrying placards bearing the legend "sold out".
Arriving at the meeting in the rain, former staff claimed they received only 30 minutes notice of the closure. They were unhappy with their redundancy and pension provisions.
Yet the liquidator, Mr Ray Jackson of KPMG, said he understood there were no further funds available from the company's shareholders to improve redundancy provisions. The Government owns 51 per cent of IFI and the British multinational ICI owns 49 per cent.
The Exchequer has provided almost €30 million to IFI in the past two years. This included almost €12.5 million for a severance package and more than €17 million in loans to keep the company going.
Despite the expenditure of taxpayers' money and the State's majority interest in IFI, and the fact that the Government effectively waived the €17.2 million loan at the meeting, public relations executives from Murray Consultants refused to allow journalists into the meeting.
The PR consultants Mr Jim Milton and Mr Tom Byrne said they were acting on instructions from the company.
A solicitor for IFI, Mr Frank Sowman, said there was no legal basis to allow journalists into the meeting.
A spokesman for the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, said the IFI board had decided to exclude journalists on legal advice. Earlier, Mr Milton had said it was the shareholders who wanted to exclude the press.
So while reporters were allowed to view the hall before the meeting, they were escorted to a separate building before the meeting began.
Accounts differed. Mr Byrne described the atmosphere inside the meeting as "calm", but a number of creditors said it was "tense" and "angry".
Certain speakers, observed from a window, appeared to be wagging fingers at the chairman of the meeting, the IFI managing director Mr Willie O'Brien.
Mr O'Brien said IFI had to improve revenues by €23 million but the State and ICI were "unable" to help.
Workers approached after the meeting said they were not satisfied.
Mr Peter Keegan (50) from Arklow said he was disgusted.
"There were no answers in there. They avoided all the questions," he said.
