Leaked e-mail asks saboteurs to stop

Rodney Edwards • Published 5 May 2011 13:00 Comments 1 Comment

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Management at Quinn Group has accused staff of sabotage after someone cut the power supply to the company's Derrylin headquarters with a chainsaw.

NIE (Northern Ireland Electricity) said the "vandals" who cut down four poles supporting the 110,000 volt cables were "lucky to be alive".

In the wake of the attack, Roy Coulter, NIE Director of Health and Safety, warned that "Danger of Death" signs attached to high voltage electricity equipment are not to be ignored.

"These actions are among the most foolhardy I have witnessed during my time at NIE," he said. "On Wednesday morning we discovered four poles had been cut down, affecting the 110,000 volt network, which is part of the essential electricity infrastructure for this rural area. We have no reports of anyone being hurt but these actions could easily have resulted in horrific injuries or death for those involved.

"Tampering with live electricity equipment can kill and I cannot stress enough the need to stay safe by staying away from the electricity network. Electricity demands our respect and we urge everyone to think about their actions and stay away from the electricity network," he stressed.

He said the incident had been reported to the police and urged anyone who witnessed suspicious activity around the electricity network in Derrylin to telephone NIE on 0845 643 643.

Meanwhile vandals struck at Quinn's again on Monday when a digger was driven into the Weighbridge Office building at the Old Cement Factory site causing extensive damage. Work to make the building safe was carried out almost immediately after the incident and the road leading into the site was closed for a period.

Workers at the Quinn Group have staged a number of protests since Anglo Irish Bank seized control of the company and ousted its founder, Sean Quinn, who owes the bank 2.8 billion euro.

In an e-mail sent to employees the new subsidiary board of directors said: "We are issuing this statement in an attempt to halt the damaging activities which are being undertaken, purportedly to help the workers and Sean Quinn.

"We fully understand people's frustration, unhappy with the treatment of Sean, his family and his senior management team and it is understandable that people want to show their dissatisfaction. However, some of the activities which have taken place over recent days help neither Sean nor the people who work in the Cavan and Fermanagh businesses he built and grew.

"The directors of the businesses have all worked for Sean for many years. Combined, we have over 200 years of service to him. None of us want to see any of the businesses damaged but our fear is that if some of the activities continue escalating then they could be under serious threat.

"No customer, regardless of their loyalty to the Quinn Group, will be able to tolerate a risk to their supply or a reduction in the quality of the products they receive. More importantly, someone could be seriously injured. The cutting of the power supply in recent days is dangerous, both for the perpetrator and for the workers in the factory and we ask for it to cease immediately," it stated.

"To repeat, we ask for all acts of sabotage to cease in the interests of maximising job retention and sales for the Quinn Group," it stressed.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 05 May 11

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alexw123
5 posts
Jul 17, 16:31
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Wow, how scary. I never understand how such acts of sabotage are viewed as productive. Sure, you scare people, but is that going to illicit the type of reaction you want? Doesn't sound to productive to me. For the sake of the workers, I hope there are some steps the companies can take to secure access control systems and thwart the saboteurs from causing even more fear and damage.

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