£1m debt was 'written off'

Exactly 959,507.30 given to 13 companies in the Londonderry area by Invest Northern Ireland has been cancelled out as part of a recently revealed 15 million, Northern Ireland wide, stockpile of unretrievable debt.

It was recently revealed that Invest NI has been attempting to recover 54 million in debts from companies it awarded grants to. Whilst the majority of that money, 30.7 million, has been recovered, almost 15 million has been written off as bad debt.

The total owed by companies in the North West, including County Londonderry and Tyrone is 1,085, 426.30 - the majority of this, emanated from companies based in and around Londonderry.

Figures obtained by the Sentinel from Invest NI's Department of Finance, make grim reading in a climate where swingeing cuts are expected to hit the public purse in the very near future and where every penny of taxpayers money is under scrutiny.

Top of the list of those who had debt written off by Invest NI was the now defunct Waterside based Glenaden Shirts who ceased trading in June 2008 and owed Invest NI 379,209.30.

Next came company, Exus Energy, which owed Invest NI 199,153, followed by an animal grooming and training company, Treat 'N' Train which owed 79,087. Moving down the list, next came The Data Warehouse Practice Ltd which owed Invest NI 77,322, followed by printing company Graham & Heslip which was Waterside based and owed 53,979 - it closed in 2003.

The original owners of catering company, Fresh Food Kitchen owed Invest NI 50,054. However the brand Fresh Food Kitchen was subsumed by another catering firm in 2007 and continues to be sold.

Next came the following companies: Study Books Ltd which owed 44,607; Duromould Ltd which owed 34,288, Andronics Ltd owed 11,950, Veco Environmental Ltd which owed 9,731, Plastic Recycling Solutions which owed 6,671, New Image Advertising Ltd which owed 5,460 and William Gallagher Food Processors which owed 4,585.

The remaining financial deficit was split across four other North West companies - three in County Londonderry and one in County Tyrone.

Connect Engineering Attachments Ltd of Bellaghy owed Invest NI 87,419; Draperstown Clothing Company, 27,000, Quarrysell Ltd of Magherafelt 10,000 and Ballylaw Foods of Artigarvan owed 1,500.

The Sentinel also asked Invest NI if any of the 15 million write-off applied to the now defunct Seagate plant at Limavady or the Raytheon Systems firm which recently left its Buncrana Road site in the city. Invest NI confirmed "that no write-off has been suffered in relation to either of those entities."

Invest NI's Director of Finance, Brian Dolaghan told the Sentinel: "The majority of this value relates to entities that have ceased trading and entered some form of Insolvency process with insufficient assets available to allow recovery of monies claimed."