The liquidation of Clerys department store in Dublin is set to cost the taxpayer €2.5 million, according to the latest estimate from the Department of Social Protection.
The Department's Social Insurance Fund will have to pay all outstanding statutory redundancy payments for up to 460 workers who lost their jobs when the store was unexpectedly sold to the Natrium consortium on 12 June.
While Natrium retained the subsidiary which held the valuable Clerys site on O’Connell St, following a complex transaction the operating company was put into liquidation within hours of the sale.
Meanwhile, the joint liquidators of Clerys department store - Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of KPMG - are to hold a meeting of creditors next week on Tuesday to set up a creditors' Committee of Inspection.
Under company law, a five-person Committee of Inspection represents the interests of all creditors of a company going into liquidation which cannot pay its debts.
The Committee can hold the liquidator to account in relation to issues which could affect the funds which creditors will receive, including the level of fees the liquidator charges, and the sale of assets.
The Department of Social Protection confirmed to RTÉ News that it will attend Tuesday's creditors' meeting.
However, the Department declined to comment on whether it would seek representation on the Committee of Inspection.
Concession holders say they will be nominating people in the hope of securing three of the five positions on the Committee of Inspection.
They are owed around €2m in cash takings which they argue were held in trust under contract by the owners of Clerys.
Sources said they will be robustly pursuing the paper trail to show where those cash takings are being held, and how they can be recovered.
SIPTU Organiser Robert Purfield confirmed that the union will also be seeking one of the five places on the Committee of Inspection to ensure that workers affected by the closure of get all their entitlements.
Creditors, former staff and the Minister of State for Business and Employment Ged Nash have all repeatedly sought meetings with new owners Natrium, which is a consortium headed by Dublin woman Deirdre Foley.
However, no meeting has yet taken place and it is understood that situation is unlikely to change.
Natrium is expected to submit a planning proposal to develop the Clerys site at some stage.
The liquidators' letter to creditors advises them that they must complete an enclosed Proof of Debt form and return it to the liquidators before close of business tomorrow, Friday 28 August.
If they do not, they will not be admitted to next Tuesday's meeting.
