Irish Farm Film Producers’ Group (IFFPG) found itself under the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture firing line following contradictions in reports surrounding the termination of a contract between IFFPG and Walker Recycling Services.

A previous meeting of the Committee on Agriculture and IFFPG took place on 18 May, discussing the IFFPG levy paid by farmers on silage plastics.

Walker Recycling Services director Robert Walker told the committee that on the morning of 18 May, he was telephoned by IFFPG and verbally informed that the contract between the two parties was to be terminated.

IFFPG general manager Liam Moloney told the committee the contract with Robert Walker had not been terminated by phone call, insisting that a letter of termination had been sent on 4 June.

Contradictions

A heated debate broke out in the committee room on Tuesday evening, as members were unable to assert if the contract between the two parties had been terminated before Walker Recyling Services went into liquidation.

Sinn Féin’s Martin Browne asked Moloney to specify when the contract had been terminated and the conditions under which IFFPG came to its decision.

Moloney said: “We sent him a letter on the fourth of June, terminating his contract because his company was in liquidation.”

Browne replied: “Would you say that the termination of his contract helped shove him into liquidation?”

Moloney then claimed that Walker and his company has been “supported to the hilt”.

“They got almost half of all the material that we collected last year, and in addition to that he was our biggest collecting contractor, he had eight counties, so we could not have supported him any more.”

Independent TB Michael Fitzmaurice told the committee that he received a phone call from a person alleging to be Robert Walker on 20 May, informing him that IFFPG had terminated the contract with Walker Recycling Services two days previously.