Rigney Dolphinwere let downfor 40 jobs byfailed ‘venture’

Back in March the Waterford-headquartered outsourcing specialist confirmed it was closing its operation in Londonderry.

The blow resulted in thirty people losing their jobs.

According to documents newly-obtained by this paper two separate factors contributed to the local redundancies.

Firstly, the firm lost a contract in October 2013, when a client switched to a cheaper service provider.

Secondly, a ‘venture,’ which agreed a contract with Rigney Dolphin, which would have involved 40 new jobs, failed to come good.

The documents state that Rigney Dolphin was taking legal action to recover debts from the ‘venture’ for work that it had already carried out.

The revelations were made at a meeting between senior Rigney Dolphin staff and Invest NI officials in Dublin on February 27 this year.

The minute reveals that Rigney Dolphin founder and chairman, Frank Dolphin, the firm’s Chief Financial Officer Stephen Mullins and Invest NI officials Derek Andrews and Jane Barr were in attendance.

“Frank advised that he intended to wind down the Derry site over the next couple of months, with the loss of 30 jobs. He said that the employees would be told on Monday or Tuesday next week,” the file reads.

The record sheds light on how jealously guarded contractual agreements are amongst both private enterprises and the state investment body.

It says that during the discussion Mr Dolphin was “adamant that we do not use any company names in any communications as this could jeopardise the Waterford operation with whom there are existing contracts.”

Apparently, anonymity agreements were in place so ensure people wouldn’t know who various customers were outsourcing to.

The minute is also carefully redacted to ensure readers don’t know the identity of various companies and contracts discussed.

“The contract that was lost in October 2013 was for [name redacted] who subsequently took the work to [name redacted]. Frank stated that this was down to cost,” it states.

“In addition, the company also had an agreement with venture called [name redacted] as Rigney Dolphin wanted to go into the [redacted] market - the contract would have involved follow up calls to clients regarding [redacted].

“[Redacted] had outlined a new contract with c.40 new jobs; this did not transpire and Rigney Dolphin is now taking legal action as they are owned [redacted] for work already carried out. [Redacted] has since dissolved,” it adds.

Another revelation is that a number of staff have moved to work for the owners of another unnamed company, including a team leader who had become a director of that company while still working with Rigney Dolphin.

“The Londonderry site is currently running at a substantial weekly loss of [redacted] and had only been breaking even prior to losing the [redacted] contract in October 2013,” the minute says.