{"id":288005,"date":"2026-01-16T19:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T19:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/288005\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T19:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T19:09:09","slug":"high-court-appoints-provisional-liquidator-to-co-galway-automation-equipment-firm-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/288005\/","title":{"rendered":"High Court appoints provisional liquidator to Co Galway automation equipment firm \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The High Court<\/a> has appointed a provisional liquidator to a Co Galway automation equipment firm that ran into financial difficulty following a customer\u2019s cancellation of a major contract. <\/p>\n

Mr Justice Ois\u00edn Quinn on Friday appointed liquidator David van Dessel to Megadale Ltd, with offices at Briarhill Business Park, Ballybrit, following a petition moved on behalf of the company itself. <\/p>\n

According to its court documents, Megadale began to experience major financial difficulties in May 2024, when an order worth \u20ac8.5 million to the company was delayed by the customer, a multinational medical devices firm.<\/p>\n

Megadale received assurances that the delay was temporary, and was asked not to take on additional orders so as to maintain the capacity to ultimately fulfil the contract.<\/p>\n

In December 2024, however, Megadale was informed by the customer that it was cancelling the order. Megadale says that it did not receive a detailed explanation for the cancellation.<\/p>\n

Barrister Ross Gorman, appearing for Megadale and instructed by solicitor Graham Kenny, told Mr Justice Quinn the cancellation was \u201cessentially devastating\u201d for the company. <\/p>\n

Megadale\u2019s petition states the company was running at a loss between May and December 2024 as it had insufficient work for its employees. The company currently employs 23 people.<\/p>\n

Following the cancellation of the order, the company attempted to backfill its depleted order book, according to the petition. <\/p>\n

This proved extremely difficult, the company says, as many of its customers \u201chad paused their own spending due to uncertainties caused by the new administration in the US\u201d. The impact of President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs \u2013 both actual and threatened \u2013 had the effect of contracting the automation market in Ireland and Europe, the company says. <\/p>\n

The recent cancellation of other projects has contributed to the company suffering significant financial losses in the last 2\u00bd years. Attempts to procure investment in the company also proved to be fruitless, the firm says.<\/p>\n

At present, two companies are interested in acquiring the assets of the company, including employees and the firm\u2019s property, according to the petition.<\/p>\n

Mr Justice Quinn said he was satisfied to make the order appointing Mr van Dessel, noting that the company was insolvent. He said the company had enjoyed a successful period, but a number of \u201cunlucky\u201d events ensued, noting the cancellation of the \u20ac8.5 million contract. <\/p>\n

The judge adjourned the case to next month. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The High Court has appointed a provisional liquidator to a Co Galway automation equipment firm that ran into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,1878,10476,19,17,1411],"class_list":{"0":"post-288005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-galway","11":"tag-high-court","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-us-tariffs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115906357774112239","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}