Thurles Information

It was the cold Summer of 2015, that Tipperary TD Mr Alan Kelly, (the man who believes he should be leader of the Irish Labour Party and who unwinds by watching “House of Cards” every night), made the following statement in a PDF news letter, addressed to his rapidly dwindling constituent followers.

Read on and weep:-
“Thurles is set to become a major green energy hub and benefit from 40 new jobs for Tipperary following an announcement I made recently. The new jobs will be created at Premier Green Energy (PGE), which is located on the site of the former Thurles Sugar Factory. It is the brainchild of Tom Comerford from Holycross and is one of the first major enterprises to return to Thurles after the loss of Erin Foods, the Sugar Factory and many others. I have been working very closely supporting Tom and Premier Green Energy for the last three years. This is a very positive announcement for Thurles and even more significant when these jobs are being created by a local company which has a huge commitment to this area. I believe that this has potential to be the beginning of something really significant in terms of jobs for the Thurles area”.

The 2016 Irish general election took place on Friday 26th February and sometime before that dates Mr Kelly, anxious to gain re-election, doubled these same imaginary job numbers for Premier Green Energy to 80 in total. Well, I suppose if I were the director of a Ltd Company about to receive ‘a few bob’, sure wouldn’t I allow my local TD to experience a seemingly real perception of something not actually present, like 80 new jobs. The reality of course, as far as we can ascertain, to date 24/7/2019, not one job was ever created, in fact a number of employees were actually made redundant.

Now we learn from the courts that in recent days, a legal demand has emerged; made by a group of Chinese investors against Mr Kelly’s jobs creators, Premier Green Energy Ltd, latter company which we understand converts waste into energy. These Chinese investors are now seeking the repayment of a €1.5m loan, plus interest.

Quoquing Wu and Jianyu Qi (both based in Dublin), as well as Yuanming Chi, Xueqi Wang, Jingli Li, Qiling Li and Kailin Yao, (latter named all based in China), have taken legal proceedings against the Tipperary company of Premier Green Energy Holdings Ltd, listed as based in the Cabragh Business Park, here in Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Premier Green Energy is a design, fabrication and manufacturing business for the provision of bespoke waste-to-energy conversion technology solutions. We understand that Premier Green Energy currently supply services to the former Verdanta mine site at Lisheen, Moyne, Thurles; however same are not listed as either partners or members of the consortium associated with Irish Bioeconomy Foundation.

The Chinese plaintiffs allege that they advanced a loan in March 2017 to the defendant, Premier Green Energy, of €1.5m for a period of 48 months. We are informed that celebrations by all involved took place in Portroe, North Tipperary, home stamping ground of Mr Kelly, following the contract signing transaction.

In court the plaintiffs also claim that as part of this loan agreement, 18% interest accruing on the principal sum loaned and was payable on the second, third and fourth anniversaries of the date that the loan was initially advanced.

On March 16th last, it is being claimed that €540,000 was due and owing to the named Chinese plaintiffs. Latter claim the defendants, Premier Green Energy Ltd, failed to make payment of the agreed sum payable, and further claim that the principal amount loaned, as well as the interest, is now due.

It is not known what other European or Irish funding, if any, was made to Premier Green Energy Ltd.

The plaintiffs now seek an order from the court requiring the defendants to pay them €2.17m, which is made up of the principal sum loaned, plus the interest allegedly due. They also seek an order for damages for breach of contract against the defendant firm of Premier Green Energy Ltd.

The matter was admitted, at the consent of both parties, to the fast track commercial court list, by Mr Justice Robert Haughton on Monday last and the case has now been adjourned to a date shortly after the court’s summer recess.

Efforts to contact Mr Kelly yesterday for comment were declined on the grounds that he was currently on holiday.

Alas, not surprisingly, Mr Kelly’s illusion of “effective public representation at local and national level” is not likely to emerge again until the next general election is announced; when his brain activity will be raised to resembles that of being fully awake.